Sword Art Evangile (Princess Evangile Crossover)
by Jakespeed207
Summary: After the successful passing of the idea for gender integration, Okonogi Masaya finds himself at a loss for what to do in his free time. When he hears a little titbit from a friend, however, that changes. A new pastime appears for him. "It's called Sword Art Online..."
1. Chapter 1

Okonogi Masaya sighed as he walked to his room in the Final Course dormitory.

His third year at Vincennes would start soon, and he knew that he would be fine in terms of studies. He had never had troubles in his classes, and when he missed something, he could usually catch up immediately, most of the time with the help of one of his friends.

No, his sigh wasn't due to his studies.

It was because he had nothing to do when it didn't come to classes.

Last year, he has been so focused on not just his studies, but his debt issues, the Premier Judgment and Grande Vote, and getting to know everyone in the school, that he never saw the need to join a club or something similar, despite his friends' pushing. Rise and Chiho wanted him to join the choir and track clubs, respectively. Ruriko wanted him to be in the baking club. Konomi wanted him to be in the naginata club. All for the same reasons: to be with them in their respective clubs. Ritsuko, Mitsuki, and Ayaka, as far as he knew, weren't in clubs, but even they had pushed him to find something to do in between classes or on off days.

Despite all this, though, he had yet to do so, mostly because none of the clubs in Vincennes drew his attention. So, to satisfy the extensive free time he saw coming in his future, he decided to look outside the boarding school and, after a month of searching, found something that he believed he could happily do.

Virtual Reality Online Gaming.

He had heard of it due to a passing comment from one of his old friends from Eitatsu Auxiliary. His friend had mentioned that Virtual Reality has taken a very strong jump forward, and at the moment, an MMO was being developed for the only VR console in existence: the NerveGear.

It was called Sword Art Online.

Masaya was never much of a gamer, due to his tough lifestyle, but now that his life had slowed down and he had more money than he knew what to do with, he decided to give it a shot. It was something that he could do in his spare time, and he had to admit, he was very curious about what Virtual Reality was like.

As such, after asking his friend for details, he had gone online and signed up for the lottery of the Sword Art Online Beta.

Now, heading to his room, he was wondering if that may have been a waste of time. He highly doubted he was going to get the chance to play the beta, but maybe he'd be able to snag the game once it officially came out.

Let it be known that if Masaya knew his thoughts could change fate, he might have asked for world peace.

His Vincennes phone suddenly began to ring, stopping him just as he was about to enter his room. The caller ID showed it was the Gardiane.

"Hello?" Masaya answered.

 _"Hello, Okonogi Masaya? This is the Gardiane captain. I'm calling to inform you that a package has arrived here for you whenever you can come pick it up."_

Masaya nearly dropped the phone in shock. It couldn't be...

Shaking off his stupor, he nodded to himself and said into the phone, "I'll be there in a bit."

...

Walking back into his room, now with a box in his hands, Masaya couldn't quite believe it.

He had actually been chosen for the beta testing of Sword Art Online!

Since he had no classes today, he decided to give it a try immediately and began to set up the console. Before that, though, he figured it would be best if he told his friends of what he would do so they wouldn't worry. So, without preamble, he pulled out his Vincennes phone, pulled up the contacts of his friends that were still in school and would possibly arrive today, and wrote a quick e-mail.

Their responses varied accordingly.

 ** _Rise_** ** _: Understood, Masaya-san. Please be careful, and have fun!_**

 ** _Chiho_** ** _: I got it, Masaya. Don't spend too long playing, okay?_**

 ** _Ruriko_** ** _: Have fun, Masaya-san!_**

 ** _Mitsuki_** ** _: I understand, Masaya-san. This VR technology you mentioned is fascinating._**

 ** _Tamie_** ** _: Got it! Mind if we talk after you come back so I can write about it? It sounds really interesting!_**

 ** _Ritsuko_** ** _: Understood, Masaya-sama._**

 ** _Konomi_** ** _: You were able to get Sword Art Online?!_**

After a quick explanation to Konomi, Masaya was ready to go!

Putting on the helmet, he went through the necessary calibrations to set it up, then inserted the game, laid down on his bed, and said the necessary words.

"Link start!"

…

Opening his eyes a few minutes later, Masaya was astounded at what he was seeing. According to what he had seen in the manual, he was currently in the starting city, an incredibly large place that looked somewhat medieval to him. Everything seemed so lifelike, even though he knew that it was basically a simulation. He hadn't really gone in depth on the specifics, but it didn't matter that much! He was in Sword Art Online, and he was going to do his damn best to learn to make his way through this game!

Looking over his character, he was happy to note that it wasn't that different from his actual self. He could admit that his features were 'bland', so he was able to find a suitable hairstyle, body build, and clothing style to fit him. His current clothing was a simple, short-sleeved red shirt, over which was a leather vest for protection, and cargo pants in a desert-camo finish. Simple black boots finished the ensemble.

"Alright..." Masaya whispered to himself, looking at the horizon. "Let's get this party started."

As he took a step forward, though, he was surprised when someone ran into him, almost knocking him to the ground. Shaking his head a little, he looked behind him and noticed a handsome young man of similar height and dark, almost navy, hair standing there, holding his head. He was wearing similar clothing to him, but his character had a blue and beige colour scheme, and his shirt was long-sleeved.

"Ouch…" The young man muttered. "Sorry about that, uh…"

"Name's Masako," Masaya said with a small smile. "And it's cool."

Masako, a name simply created from taking the first two syllables of his given name and the second syllable of his family name. He had gone through several variations to use, but Masao felt odd to him, and Okosaya just sounded hard to pronounce, as was Masanogi.

"Ah, alright. My name's Kirito," the now-named player introduced himself, holding out his hand. After shaking, Kirito looked around the place and seemed to spot his target, for he turned away and waved over his shoulder at Masaya. "Sorry, Masako, but I'm eager to get started! Catch you around!"

"Sure thing!" Masaya called back, waving at him. Once Kirito was out of sight, he turned away and pinched the index and middle fingers and thumb of his right hand, pulling it downwards to open up his menu. Searching for the map option, he checked it and looked for a good place to start levelling up, or more likely grinding.

The fields west of the Starting City should do.

…

…

…


	2. Chapter 2

Only three months later, the official release for Sword Art Online was well underway!

In the two months of the beta testing, Masaya made it his mission to learn just how to work the system of Sword Art Online. He had, of course, died several times first in his adventure, but as he practiced, and with the help of a few other players, including the very first player he had met in the SAO world, he had gotten the hang of it quite well and made a name for himself.

After having gotten through the first few levels, Masaya began to try his hand with the weapons in the game, and quickly found one that suited his style: a chokutō, a thin, single-edged sword that he taught himself to wield with deadly accuracy. Of course, the game itself used "Sword Skills" to define attacks, but when grinding, Masaya took it upon himself to train his virtual body to move just as the sword skill would, thus helping him chain together combos of sword skills for maximum efficiency. To this end, he had shaped his character for focus on Agility and Strength (more on the former), thus helping him move around quickly and smoothly, while at the same time allowing him to swing and stab his chokutō as fast as he needed.

Unfortunately, he went through several different swords before he focused on this path. His favoured weapon was the chokutō, yes, but it was not a weapon meant to withstand pure sword clashes. Whenever he tried, such as when he was duelling another player, he'd find his sword snapping in his hands. After the third one, he realized what the problem was and was thankfully able to shift his character stats accordingly, allowing him to wield the chokutō to its full ability.

And wield it he did.

Now, when the SAO servers were about to start up once again for the official release, Masaya was quite excited to get back to the Virtual World. He had made sure to keep his body in shape during the one month wait for the release, and balancing schoolwork, hang outs with his friends, working out, and virtual gaming was no small feat. But he managed, and now, he was about to return once again.

Putting on the NerveGear, Masaya checked over everything around him, then connected it, laid on his bed, and closed his eyes.

"Link start!"

* * *

"Ah… it's good to be back," Masako commented, opening his eyes and looking around the starting plaza. He was certainly a little bugged about being back to level one, but that could be remedied easily. With sure steps, he ran into the city, ready to re-start his journey.

* * *

In the Rose Garden, the girls that used to be the White Lily Society and those that were in the Red Rose Society were convening, drinking tea and eating baguettes made by the resident baker, Ruriko.

"Masaya-san is playing once again, is he not?" Ritsuko asked, grabbing a baguette for herself.

"Indeed he is," Rise, the new Student Council President, said. "He told me that today was the official release for the game he has been playing. What was it called again?"

"Sword Art Online!" Konomi nearly shouted. She quieted when she noticed all the stares aimed her way, slinking back onto her seat. "I still cannot believe he was lucky enough to get it…"

"You wanted to play that game, Konomi?" Chiho asked curiously.

"Of course!" Konomi exclaimed, once again rising from her seat. "To be in a world where strength is decided through your mastery and prowess with a blade! It's just… Aah!" She emitted a sort of fangirl-ish squeal, then plopped back down on her chair.

"You're certainly excited," Ruriko commented with a smile, Panterbell 'kuu'ing on her shoulder.

As the little reunion moved on to the afternoon, the girls were surprised when they saw a group of people running through the path near them, half of them clad in lab coats. A few Gardiane officers accompanied them, wearing worried frowns.

"What's going on?" Mitsuki wondered, standing up alongside the rest of the girls.

"Come on, let's follow them!" Rise commanded, leading them after the group.

Clearly, they weren't the only ones with the idea, as a small crowd had gathered at the Headmistress' office, waiting for the news. The girls stood near the middle and waited for what would happen.

A few moments later, the doors swung open once again, the group of what they guessed were doctors moving quickly. They split to let them pass, and as soon as the last one had come out, the headmistress came along, a worried frown on her face.

"Madame Headmistress," Rise said, coming forward. "What's going on?"

Kitamikado Misako looked at her for a moment before sighing. "It's best that you come along."

With those dubious words, the headmistress began following the group of outsiders, the students following along worriedly.

* * *

To further their worry, they were approaching Masaya's room, and with haste. Heck, the door was already flung open, and panicked murmurs could be heard coming from inside.

When they were able to see inside, they all noticed that the group was circling around the prone form of Masaya, muttering between themselves, writing things down rapidly, and constantly looking at the helmet that was encasing his head.

"Madame Headmistress!" Rise exclaimed, now understandably freaked out. "Please, can you tell us what's going on?!"

The headmistress looked back, looking at all of the girls surrounding her. It was an impressive number, and while she knew that not even half the schoolgirls could fit in the entire hallway, she was sure that the rest of the school would be very worried once told.

That was the effect that Okonogi Masaya had on them all the previous year.

"Yes, I believe I should now," Misako sighed, turning fully. Her eyes were full of remorse. "These doctors have come from a nearby hospital to examine Masaya and make sure he is still alive."

That threw them all for a loop.

"Still alive?" Chiho asked in a breathy voice. "W-Why would they need to check that?"

"Because out of the ten thousand people that have entered the virtual reality known as Sword Art Online," the headmistress said with a very serious voice, "over two hundred have died."

A deathly silence filled the hallway, each girl's face showing pure horror at the very thought.

Then, the question came in a massive torrent.

"Died?!"

The headmistress winced a little, but nodded. "Yes, died. As I've been told, the person that designed the helmet included a device that, when the helmet is attempted to be removed electronically or physically, will release some kind of microwave and, in essence, cook the wearer's brain. However, for half the deaths, it went off without anyone trying to remove the helmet, leaving everyone unsure of why it has been happening." Looking back at the prone Masaya, the headmistress sighed sadly. "And unfortunately, Masaya-kun is now at a very high risk."

The rest of the girls looked inside the room as best they could, now noticing that the doctors had reached some kind of consensus. One of them turned to the headmistress and said, "Misako-san, we need to move Masaya-san to a hospital as soon as possible. The young man doesn't seem to have eaten anything before diving into the game, so hunger and probably dehydration will soon set in. We will prepare the necessary equipment to transplant him without triggering the trap on the helmet, but it may take at most an hour."

Misako nodded. "Very well. I will notify the Gardiane to let you in when needed."

The girls outside, now understanding what was truly happening, turned to each other, unsure of what to do and feeling annoyed about that.

Their friend was now trapped and could die at any moment… and there wasn't a single thing any one of them could do.

* * *

Inside the world of SAO, Masaya was currently standing at an open field, smirking at the sight of one of his old beta friends Kirito trying to teach another player going by the name of Klein how to activate the Sword Skills used in the game. He had met up with Kirito after bumping into him at the starting city, much like they had met on the first day of the beta testing. Kirito was already dealing with Klein at that point, so Masaya decided to stick around and hang out a little with them.

As the environment changed to reflect the sunset, Masaya pulled down the menu and checked the time.

It had already become six in the afternoon.

Remembering the last time he had eaten was when breakfast was served at Vincennes (a.k.a. eight in the morning), he closed the menu and walked over to his two acquaintances.

Movement to his left drew him short, and after focusing, he realised that one of the boars that Kirito was using as class material with Klein was charging at him. With an instinctual move, he drew the short sword attached to his left bicep and swung, the sword glowing a dark orange colour. It was close, but the slash move connected, slicing a bright red line on the boar's side and making it break apart into a multitude of rainbow-coloured pieces. With a semi-satisfied sigh, Masaya sheathed the short sword and finished walking over to the pair, arriving just in time to watch Klein finally destroy the boar he was facing.

"Well done, Klein-san," Masaya said with a smile.

Klein smiled in return. "Thanks, Masako. This is tougher than it looks. I don't know how you two do it so easily."

"It's all about experience," Kirito spoke up.

"After you use the Sword Skills enough times, it becomes second nature," Masaya agreed.

Klein raised an eyebrow, knowing the two of them had been in the beta test. "How long have you two been playing, though?"

Masaya and Kirito glanced at one another, a wordless conversation passing between their eyes. When they looked back, they were both smirking and responded in tandem, "Long enough."

One of them, however, had to cut it short, that one being Masaya. "Alright, I think I'm going to log out, guys. I've been here a while, and I have a feeling I'm going to be super hungry when I get out."

"Oh yeah, me too!" Klein exclaimed. "I ordered a pizza to be delivered to me!"

"For what time?" Kirito asked.

"Six."

"It's already six, Klein-san," Masaya pointed out.

"All the more reason!" Klein said, opening his menu alongside Masaya. The pair, however, stopped simultaneously when they noticed an oddity.

Klein was the one to verbalise the problem. "Uh, Kirito, Masaya, where's the log out button?"

"What, you can't find that either?" Kirito asked incredulously.

"No, he's right, Kirito," Masaya spoke up, glaring in confusion at the blank square sitting at the bottom of the settings menu. "Check your own menu. Maybe it's a glitch or something."

Kirito raised an eyebrow at both of them and decided to humour them. His confusion deepened when he noticed his log out button was indeed missing. "What in the…?"

The three players looked at each other, wondering what to do, but that choice was taken from them when they noticed they had begun to shine.

"A forced teleport?" Masaya asked aloud in puzzlement. At the edge of his vision, he saw Kirito nod and grab his own short sword's handle, which was hanging on his back. Masaya mimicked him.

The bright light consumed the three of them, forcing them to cover their eyes, and when they were able to open them once again, they were surprised to note that they were in the Starting City.

"What are we doing here?" Klein asked, looking around the square.

It seemed they hadn't been the only ones to be teleported. An incredibly large amount of people were there, all looking around in confusion. It seemed they had all been teleported to the square at the same time, and no one was sure why.

"Look, up there!" Masaya exclaimed, looking at the sky and pointing at a large, red hexagon that had the word " **WARNING!** " written on it, which then changed to " **SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT!** "

"Maybe it's about the missing log out button," Kirito inferred aloud.

Masaya noticed that the people immediately around them looked at them with what seemed to be confusion, meaning they either hadn't noticed or were surprised someone else had the same problem.

All of a sudden, the hexagon in the sky multiplied exponentially, surrounding the entire city in what seemed to be a dome. From the cracks between them, a red liquid began to leak out, reminding Masaya of some horror movies he had seen where the victim's blood had bled through the floorboards of a two story apartment. It also seemed to remind others of horror, because he was sure he had heard a scream or three in the crowd, followed by some shushing.

The blood fell in rivulets, but not to the ground. Instead, it came together at a point some distance from the ground and solidified after a few seconds, forming what appeared to be a floating, empty ornate robe, which had floating gloves for some reason.

Then, suddenly, a voice came from it.

 **"** **Players! I welcome you… to my world."**

"My world…?" Kirito questioned.

"Then that's…" Masaya followed up.

 **"** **My name is Kayaba Akihiko. And as of this moment, I am the sole person capable of controlling this world."**

Kirito and Masaya gasped simultaneously, while around them, the players either showed realisation or puzzlement.

 **"** **I'm sure you've already noticed that there is no logout button at the bottom of your menus. This is not a bug or defect in the game. I say again, this is a feature of the very game you're playing."**

"A feature?" Klein asked worriedly.

 **"** **You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and similarly, no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear from your heads. Should they do so… the transmitter of the headset will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life."**

All around them, the simply-spoken announcement caused confusion and scepticism.

 _"_ _Come off it!"_

 _"_ _What are you talking about?"_

 _"_ _Come on, just let us go already."_

One pair of players tried to leave the square, but the taller of the two immediately bumped into something and fell back.

"Hey! I can't get out!" he exclaimed.

The others began to increase the volume of their protests, and to his right, Masaya heard Klein say, "What's he talking about? That's impossible. Right, Kirito?"

The redhead and brunet turned to the black-haired young man, who was looking oddly pensive. With halting words, he explained, "It's true that the transmitter's signals work just like a microwave. If the safety was disabled…"

He didn't need to finish the thought.

"But what if the power to the NerveGear is cut?" Masaya asked, thinking that probably Chiho would do just that if he was unresponsive. A stray thought later, his eyes widened. "No, wait… the NerveGear has a battery, right?"

Kirito nodded as Klein gaped in shock. "This is crazy," the redhead muttered while shaking his head. "What the hell is going on?!"

Kayaba decided to continue on at that point, as if he had heard. **"Unfortunately, several of the players' friends and family have ignored the warning issued, and went ahead to try and remove the helmets. And because of this… two hundred and thirteen players have now been logged out… permanently."**

And to fortify his statement, several screens appeared around him, showing tabloids and streams from several different news sources. Masaya held hope that this was still a farce when he only saw blog and online newspaper posts, as those could be faked, but when he noticed a stream of news from a very popular streaming website he knew of, he was convinced.

This was truly happening.

 **"** **Thus, the risk of dying via forceful removal is minimal at best. You may rest easy."**

Several people protested the latter phrase loudly.

 **"** **You must also know one thing. There is no longer any way to revive someone once they die in the game."**

Masaya's eyes widened, and to his right, he heard Kirito gasp.

 **"** **If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will disappear… and so will you."**

Immediately, Masaya remembered the number of times he had 'died' during the beta testing. Most were due to him fighting the monsters and bosses, and many of those were while he was still getting used to his chokutō, but some were when he had challenged and been challenged to duels by other players. Did that mean…?

 **"** **There is only one means of escape."**

At a press of a button, a three dimensional map of the game's map, Aincrad, appeared, with a circle highlighted on the lower part of the lowest floor.

 **"** **Currently, you are all in the Starting City, the lowest of the floors: Floor 1. Traverse through the dungeon, beat the boss, and you may pass on to Floor 2. Reach the hundredth and final floor and beat the boss there, and you will have cleared the game, which will automatically log all of you out."**

Many confused mutters were heard throughout, and next to Kirito, Klein yelled out, "Clear all one hundred floors?! That's insane! The beta testers never made it that high!"

His comment went ignored.

 **"** **And finally, I have added a little present from me to each of your inventories. Do give it a look."**

Almost immediately, Masaya pulled open his menu, noticing everyone else do so belatedly out of the corner of his eyes. Opening up his inventory, he noted there was a single item there.

It was simply labelled 'mirror'.

Pressing it, he watched as it appeared and dropped into his hand. Looking into it, he scanned the face of his avatar, a face that looked at least a few years older than him staring back at him. It had no stubble, but a strong chin and sharp eyes. The hair was longer than his, the eyebrows were a little thinner, and his mouth was a little wider.

Then, a bright light and a yelp caught his attention.

"Klein?!" Kirito exclaimed, watching as his new friend was surrounded by light.

All around them, several different pillars of light appeared, each one surrounding a person, and eventually, both Kirito and Masaya were captured as well. The light blinded the brunet, who covered his eyes until he felt it had abated. He honestly felt no different, but maybe it was something cosmetic.

"You okay, Masako, Kirito?"

"I'm fine… eh? Who are you?"

Masaya's assurance to Klein stopped halfway when he saw that the two people next to him were no longer the tall, black-haired young man and the redheaded, slightly older man. Instead, there was a teenager that looked about two years younger than him to his immediate right, with a somewhat feminine face and limp black hair, and a scruffy-faced, darker-red-haired man next to that guy, who was reaching out to him but now looked confused.

"And who are you?" the scruffy man asked.

A small thought nagging the back of his head, Masaya turned to the mirror still in his hand… and froze in shock at the face that stared back at him.

It was him… the actual him.

His limp, brown locks… the chocolate eyes… the nose and mouth that he had gotten from his father… and the small amount of stubble that had begun to grow along his jawline.

His avatar had actually become him.

Just to be sure he was right, he pulled away his shirt from his body and noted that his character's abdominals were now actually defined. When he had picked his avatar as he started Sword Art Online, he had chosen a lanky build meant more for speed than brute force.

That sealed it for him.

"Then that means…" Masaya muttered, turning to the two people to his right, who had come to the realisation themselves, it seemed.

"You're Kirito and Klein?!"

"You're Masako and Klein?!"

"You're Kirito and Masako?!"

The words were spoken almost simultaneously by the three involved.

"But… how is that possible…?" Klein gasped, and Masaya mirrored his sentiment.

Kirito had an answer, spoken with his head lowered. "The NerveGear… it has a high-density scanner on the inside. It can see what my face looks like… But it shouldn't be able to know my height and body type."

"Wait, Kirito," Masaya spoke up. "While calibrating, the NerveGear had you touch your limbs, didn't it?"

"Yeah!" Klein agreed. "I had to touch my arms, legs, torso…"

"That would explain it," Kirito agreed.

"This is crazy…" Klein repeated. "Why?! Why would someone do all of this?!"

In response, Kirito pointed towards the game master still floating above all the players. "I think he's about to explain it."

Kayaba seemed to wait a minute before continuing. **"Now, I imagine the biggest question you may have is, 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator and developer of Sword Art Online do all of this? Ultimately, the reason is simple. I developed Sword Art Online to be able to control a world of my own design. And as you can see… I have achieved that goal."**

Masaya's eyebrows contracted as he felt anger course through his body, and to his right, he heard the sound of tightening leather as Kirito's fists clenched.

 **"** **This marks the end of the tutorial for SAO. Players… I wish you the best of luck."**

As Kayaba's game master avatar began to break apart and dissipate, one last phrase came from him.

 **"** **You shall need it…"**

And with an almost happy-sounding pop, the blood-red sky became once again a sunset orange.

Silence reigned around the square.

Masaya could only stare straight ahead, his mind racing. All of this… a pastime he had decided to take up on a whim… had suddenly become entirely real.

Kayaba Akihiko had taken steps to create a virtual world where ten thousand people would be trapped, and now, Masaya was part of that world.

It was almost too much to take in. He could feel a blackness crawl along the edges of his vision.

But out of the despair that threatened to crawl out of his soul, a burning fire suddenly came, sharpening his mind and making him grit his teeth.

All of his life… he had been wandering around, almost unable to define his own future. Since he was a child, his father was making all the decisions, and he, being a stupid fool, had gone along with it, resentment growing under his skin. Then he had been abandoned, and had almost lost hope, but meeting Rise had swept that aside, giving him hope and a home. But ever since the end of the previous year and the successful passing of the idea of integration, he no longer had a goal.

He had no idea what to do.

The only thing he wanted to do then was graduate from Vincennes, but even then, he had no clue where to go afterwards. Vincennes Women's College still didn't have the same change that the Academy had, and regardless, he had no other ideas on where he wanted to go.

But now… now he had a new situation to deal with, even if temporarily. He had a new goal. He had new parameters.

He had a new life.

And with that, Masaya's resolve was complete, and his burning desire filled his spirit.

He would prove Kayaba Akihiko wrong.

He would not die!

Almost as soon as he had finished his inner pep talk, a scream rent the air, and with it, the floodgates opened. People began to panic, and most frantically began to yell at the sky, hoping beyond hope that this was still just a mistake, or a prank.

But while that happened, Masaya became aware of a hand grabbing his wrist.

"Masako, Klein, come with me," Kirito muttered at them, dragging them away and into the city. Masaya went along, but Klein seemed a little hesitant.

When Kirito pulled them into an alley, he let them go and immediately pulled up a map. "Listen, you two. The fields around the Starting City are going to be hunted clean soon. In RPGs like this one, there's only so much EXP and loot that can go around. But if we head out to the next village now, we can make sure to get the full amount of anything we find. I'm heading to the next village… and I want you two to come with me."

Masako grit his teeth and looked at Klein, waiting to see what he would do. He had noticed the man's hesitance, and he was right in his assumption that something was holding him back.

"Sorry, but… I stood in line all night with my friends to buy this game, you know. They're back there somewhere, probably just as freaked out as I am."

Kirito looked down, a shadow covering his eyes, and Masaya understood. They were all still level one, and even three people was pushing the limit for fast growth. If there were even more…

"Don't worry," Klein suddenly said, making Kirito's head snap back up. "Can't ask two guys I just met to risk their lives for a bunch of strangers, right? I'll be fine, you know. In the last game I played, I ran a guild, and with the things you taught me, Kirito, I'll be more than prepared. I'll be alright."

Kirito looked at the man worriedly, and then turned his sight to Masaya. "And you, Masako?"

Masaya looked down, understanding the choice in front of him. And while he could understand staying with Klein, helping him and his guild…

"I'm going with you," Masaya said resolutely, looking Kirito in the eyes. "You and I know the best routes in this place, so we can get by well. Once we find something, it'll be easier to take care between the both of us." He walked up to Kirito and held his fist out. "We'll watch each other's backs."

The conviction in Masaya's voice took Kirito by surprise, but eventually, he smirked and nodded, clashing his own fist with Masaya's. With a similar nod, Masako turned to Klein and slugged him on the shoulder. "You take care of yourself out there, alright?"

"Yeah, you know it," Klein said, smirking at him.

"If you get in a pinch or anything, don't hesitate to send either of us a message, alright?" Kirito stressed worriedly.

"You got it, man," Klein assured him.

With a hesitant nod, Kirito turned to Masaya, and both of them began to walk away from Klein.

"Kirito! Masako!"

The pair heard Klein exclaim their names when they were already a few steps away, and when they turned, they noticed that the man was leaning on one leg, a hand on his hip and a cocky smirk on his face.

"I kind of like these looks on you better. You could almost pass for brothers!"

Kirito and Masaya looked at each other in askance, then simultaneously understood and smiled. Kirito turned back to him and responded, "Yeah, and that scruffy look fits you ten times better, Klein!"

Then, together, Masaya and Kirito turned and began to jog away. Masaya was so focused on the path ahead that he almost missed it when Kirito came to a stop. The brunet stopped and looked back at Kirito, who was looking downcast. Then, Kirito looked back, and his eyes widened when he noticed that Klein was already gone. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth, then opened them again and looked at Masaya.

Masaya nodded in understanding, seeing a similar fire begin to grow in Kirito's eyes, and together, they ran out of the Starting City and on one of the paths that lead out, never stopping.

 _'_ _This is my new life! And I will survive!'_ both young men thought, unknowingly simultaneously.

A few yards ahead, almost as if to test their determination, two red-eyed wolves appeared, growling their way. Not slowing down for a moment, the boys locked eyes and smirked at each other, grabbing their respective weapons.

Then, just as the wolves charged, they drew them and swung, leaving light streaks in the air as their sword skills activated and their attacks connected, Kirito leaving a solid line across the left wolf's hide, and Masaya throwing the other over him with an underhanded swipe to the stomach.

Both enemies burst, and as the EXP flowed into their avatars, the boys, driven by their adrenaline, shouted out a unified challenge as their swords came around, coming to rest against each other.

"We will win!"

…

…

…


	3. Chapter 3

**One month later…**

* * *

"A whole month has passed… and two thousand people have died. And only now, one month later, are we finally coming together to try and find the floor boss room."

Masaya whispered those words to himself as he sat on the stands of the small, old-style coliseum, Kirito next to him.

"What was that?" Kirito asked.

"Oh, uh… Just going over what's happened this last month. Did I say it aloud?"

"I suppose."

In the month that had gone past, a lot had changed in Sword Art Online. The players, almost unknowingly, had taken to their new life as best they could. Those who had been in the beta testing were now rarely heard of, and in the beginning, many couldn't withstand the pressure and had committed suicide. Others had gone out on their own, with many not knowing how to truly fight or, more appropriately, survive, and died as a result. And the rest had banded together, hoping that someone would come and rescue them. But when no salvation came, tentative leaders stepped forward, hoping to help those unknowing ones, to teach them how to survive this world.

Masaya and Kirito had been two of the few that had gone out on their own. In the whole month, they had traversed many of the villages of Floor 1 and the tower. With their gained experience from the beta test, they were able to quickly level themselves up to more appropriate levels to fight the floor boss, and even gained better weapons, with Kirito completing the quest that granted him the Anneal Blade, the best hand-and-a-half sword that the first few floors could grant, and Masaya trading most of his loot to buy the Blighter, a chokutō with similar ranking but more suited for his style.

The two had heard of the call that was being made to one of the villages for a planned meeting to find and defeat the floor boss, but Masaya was a little disheartened to see much less people than he expected to come to the meeting. Regardless, he steeled himself for the planning that was to come.

Three consecutive claps were heard, drawing all attention to the stage, where a blue-haired man was standing, seeming to be in his healthy twenties at most. He had a blue-coloured tunic on with light, brown armour covering his chest, shoulders, and wrists, and had a sword at his side and a shield on his back.

"Alright, everyone, it's time to get this started," the man spoke up. "My name is Diabel, and first of all, I want to thank all of you for coming to this meeting. It heartens me to see so many of you prepared to battle this game! For a little introduction, my role in this game is a Knight!"

Light laughter rang out from everyone, and even Kirito and Masaya smirked.

"There's no class system in the game!" someone laughed.

"Come on, you want to hear this info or not?" Diabel asked, getting them all back on track. "Right, here's the deal. Our party has found the boss room at the top of the tower."

Gasps rang out, astonishment rippling through the players.

"Our main goal is to defeat the boss and make it to Floor 2. But also… as some of the most capable players in this game, it's also our duty to go around to the Starting City, and tell all of the players that beating this game _is_ possible! Do you agree?!"

Murmurs rang out as the gathered players looked at each other, determination on their faces. When seeing another with the same level of courage, they would nod at each other, and eventually, a cheer went up from most.

"Okay, great! Happy to see you're with me!" Diabel said with a large smile. "Now, let's figure out how to beat this boss. First order of business is to split up into parties of six."

Masaya and Kirito's eyes widened.

"A typical party doesn't stand a chance against the floor boss. We need to form a raid group."

The pair looked around, seeing that practically all of the other players were forming groups of that size. Then they looked at each other.

"Um… just us two is fine, right?" Kirito asked awkwardly.

Masaya half-smiled, but then his eye was drawn over Kirito's shoulder, where a figure of red and white caught his attention.

"Well, maybe we can get one more?" Masaya said, nodding to the figure at the other end of the stair they were sitting on. Kirito turned and regarded the figure before nodding and scooting over, with Masaya standing and walking to the person, who stiffened when she saw the two of them approaching.

"You got left out too?" Kirito asked without preamble.

"Not at all," the figure responded. "Everyone just seems like they're already friends with each other."

"Well, would you like to party with us, then?" Masaya asked.

The figure half-turned, as if regarding them, and Masaya noticed her shoulders tense.

"It would only be for this fight, if you want," he tried to reassure her.

"Yeah, you heard what that guy said," Kirito nodded along.

After a moment, the girl nodded once. Thus, Kirito took the lead and sent her a party invitation.

When she accepted, a new health bar appeared at the corner of both Kirito and Masaya's eyesight.

It read simply, ' **Asuna** '.

A few moments later, Diabel once again spoke up. "Alright then, looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-,"

"Hold on a second!"

A male, high-pitched voice suddenly yelled out, interrupting Diabel and drawing all attention to the top of the stair seats around the middle, where a guy with cactus-like orange hair was standing with his arms crossed. He hopped down the stairs three at a time, jumped the last three, and landed with a puff of dust on the ground.

"My name's Kibaou," he said, pointing at himself, "And before we go on, I need to get something off my chest!"

Everyone stared at the newcomer with not a small amount of surprise.

"Everyone here knows about the two thousand people that have died, right?" he asked. "Well, some of you here need to apologize to them right now!"

As he pointed into the crowd, everyone began to mutter to themselves, and Kirito and Masaya grit their teeth almost simultaneously, a bad feeling on their chests.

"Kibaou, I think I know who you're talking about," Diabel spoke up seriously. "You're talking about the players that were in the beta testing, correct?"

"Of course I am!" Kibaou exclaimed. "The day this damn game started, the beta testers just up and vanished! They ditched all of the beginners and grabbed all the easy quests and good hunting spots for themselves, ignoring the ones that were in need! Hell, I bet there's some of them in this crowd! Come on out, beta testers! We should make you apologize and give up all the money and equipment you got! How do we expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us?"

A deathly silence filled the coliseum at these words. To his left, Masaya could hear Kirito's breath begin to get faster, a sign that he was nervous. Looking at him, he noted Kirito's eyes were tightly shut, so he placed a hand on his shoulder and made the young man look at him.

A wordless conversation passed between them, with Masaya's stern gaze telling Kirito all he needed to know. When he turned back, Masaya was about to say something when someone else beat him to it.

"Can I say something?"

As everyone looked to the source, a tall, dark skinned man stood up, wearing grey, sleeveless armour and having a large battle axe strapped to his back. He walked down the steps and onto the stage, then stood right in front of Kibaou, who looked up at him with apprehension.

"Kibaou, right? My name is Agil," the man introduced himself. "I just want to make sure we're on the same page. You're saying the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths, and that they should be made to apologize and give up their money and equipment, am I right?"

"Yeah," Kibaou said shortly.

Agil then reached behind him, pulling something out of his pocket. When he put it up, everyone could see it was a small, brown book.

"The item store hands these out for free," Agil explained. "You got one, right?"

"Yeah, I did. What's your point?" Kibaou asked rudely.

"Do you know who made that book?" Masaya suddenly spoke up in a deathly tone of voice, grabbing mostly everyone's attention. When Kibaou was looking at him, he held up his own copy. "The very same beta testers you're calling out."

Kibaou grit his teeth as the people around them stared at Masaya in astonishment.

"So don't go telling me that it was the fault of anyone. The beta testers filled this with all the information they could, and everyone who could get a copy, got one. And yet, they still died. So if you have nothing constructive to say, then sit down and shut up. We're here to find out how to best take down the Floor 1 boss so that we can keep going, not to hear an orange cactus start yapping accusations at us."

A light round of laughter rang out from the players at Masaya's words, and Kibaou glared at him for a second before grunting and sitting down on the lowest step in front of the stage. Agil looked at Masaya, studying him, while Masaya did the same. A moment later, both parties smirked and nodded at each other before taking their seats.

"What was that about, Masako?" Kirito asked, now calmer after Agil and Masaya's words.

"That guy just rubbed me the wrong way," Masaya grunted.

The brunet could tell that Asuna was studying him silently, but chose not to comment.

"Thank you for those words, Agil, and… um…"

"Masako."

"Right, Masako. Anyway, I'm glad you two brought that up, as the information for the first boss will come from the latest issue of the Guide Book." Murmurs rose from the crowd as Diabel opened up the book to the corresponding page. "According to the guide, the boss' name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. It uses an axe and a buckler to fight. He has a total of four health bars, and when his health is brought down to the last bar, he will switch to a long, curved weapon called a talwar and most likely change his pattern of attack." The players looked between themselves, sharing and discussing this info while checking out their own Guide Books. "That's it for the briefing. As for the loot, the money gained will be divided equally amongst everyone. The party that defeats the boss will take the EXP, and whoever gains an item keeps it. Any objections?"

Some murmurs rose, but no one raised their hand. Diabel nodded. "Very well! We will meet tomorrow at ten in the morning at the entrance to the tower! Meeting adjourned!"

As the announcement rang, the crowd began to disperse. Some players went on their way, while other hung around their party.

Kirito watched as Kibaou walked up to Diabel and talked to him with an awkward air, but Diabel simply raised a hand and smiled. Movement next to him caught his eye, and when he looked, he noticed that Asuna was leaving without a word.

"Come on," Masaya said to him. "Let's get back to our room."

Kirito nodded and stood, beginning to walk off. Masaya, however, stayed where he was, because as he was about to walk off, he looked down to the stage, where his eyes locked with Diabel's own.

A wordless conversation passed between them, but Masaya broke it and headed after Kirito.

* * *

That night, Masaya was lying on his bed in one of the town's motels when the door opened and Kirito stepped in, looking pretty tired but also thoughtful.

"Everything alright?" Masaya asked.

Kirito looked over, his eyes still a little clouded. "Yeah."

"Is it Asuna?"

"Wha-?! How did you know…?"

Masaya shrugged. "Just a guess."

Kirito stared at him, but eventually nodded. "Yeah, it's Asuna. She's strong-willed… but pretty pessimistic, to be honest."

As he got ready to sleep, he shared with Masaya what had just happened. He had gone out to buy some more supplies when he noticed her hanging out alone in an alley, eating the simple bread that was the lowest in terms of food one could get down here in Floor 1. He had shared with her some cream that he and Masaya had attained in one of the quests, and while she seemed to definitely enjoy it, it seemed she almost forced herself to say she hadn't, telling Kirito that she had come here not to eat good food, but to fight and make a mark, even if she died to the game.

"Sounds like the stress of the game made her get pretty serious," Masaya commented.

"Yeah… but she's forcing it, I can tell," Kirito sighed as he lay down on the other bed. "I hope she would loosen up a little."

"It's her prerogative, Kirito," Masaya said, closing his eyes. "There's not much we can do right now, especially with the boss coming up tomorrow. Just get some rest."

Kirito nodded and turned to his side. Within moments, both boys were asleep.

* * *

"Alright, let's go over it again, just so we're clear," Kirito said as they climbed the mountain path that led to the tower. Masaya and Asuna looked at him as he began to talk. "We're the backup, so we'll be taking care of Illfang's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels."

The other two nodded.

"Since we're three people, we'll try to attack them two at a time and alternate constantly to take them out. As I'm focused on strength, I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapon away, then one of you switch and step in."

"What's a switch?" Asuna asked, curiosity in her soft voice.

Both boys stared at her for a moment, then Kirito spoke up seriously. "Okay, be honest: is this the first time you've been in a party?"

"Uh-huh," Asuna nodded, making both Kirito and Masaya stop in astonishment. Asuna looked back in confusion, a feeling that doubled when she saw them sigh simultaneously.

The rest of the way, the boys took some time to explain to Asuna as many MMO terms as they could, specifying the ones they'd be using the most.

* * *

The entire raid party stopped in front of the boss' ornate door, flaming torches illuminating their determined faces.

"Listen up, everyone," Diabel said, bringing his sword up to bear. "I only have one thing to say to you all: let's win this. Come on!"

And without further ado, he placed his hand on the door and pushed, opening them with a loud creak.

Silently, Diabel took the first few steps into the dark room, which didn't remain dark for long. The walls and floor suddenly switched to bright colours, and with a loud growl, a large red figure jumped forward, slamming right in front of the blue-haired man. The title that appeared on its head and the four green bars that circled the side of his head left no other interpretation as to what this was.

As everyone else began to enter the room, bright lights appeared in front of Illfang, spawning its minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Together, the four monsters ran forward to confront the intruders.

"Commence attack!"

Diabel's command spurred them into action, and together, the main parties yelled out a unified war cry as they ran forward, sword flashing as they activated their skills.

* * *

As the battle raged on, and the boss' health was brought down little by little, Diabel handed out instructions as necessary. While squads A, B, and C continuously switched to attack and defend against Illfang…

"Squads D, E, and F, keep those Sentinels off of us!"

"You got it!" Kirito yelled out, rushing forward.

A Sentinel made to attack him, but as it did, Kirito brought his glowing sword up, deflecting the attack and leaving the Sentinel open for attack.

"Switch!"

"I got it!" Asuna exclaimed, rushing forward. Kirito and Masaya watched together as she ran forward, using a precise pose to activate a lightning quick rapier skill and striking the Sentinel enough times to shatter it.

Both had the same thought.

 _'_ _Despite being a beginner, she's got good skills.'_

Movement caught Masaya's eye, and he reached back, grabbing the handle of the chokutō hanging horizontally on his lower back. As another Sentinel threw its spiked mace forward, Masaya ducked and twisted, dodging the attack and simultaneously pulling out his sword while activating a twirling slash, a movement that took him quite a while to master during the beta. His attack connected with the Sentinel's right hand, making it flinch back and lose balance.

"Switch!"

"On it!" Kirito exclaimed, running forward and pulling his arm back, then slicing the Sentinel right in half across its waist, killing it.

Masaya smirked and nodded at Kirito, then looked for their third partner, who was dodging a Sentinel's attacks. He ran forward, yelling out, "Asuna, deflect it!"

The girl froze for a moment, but nodded and sidestepped one more attack. As soon as the Sentinel pulled back to attack again, she hit the Sentinel's mace hard enough to cause it to lose balance, then stepped back, shouting, "Switch!"

"Yeah!" Masaya confirmed her statement, jumping forward and slashing a bright red line on the Sentinel's side as he passed it. As soon as he was behind it, he twirled the Blighter and stabbed backwards, stabbing the Sentinel through its torso and killing it. Looking at Asuna, he smiled and said, "Well done."

Asuna simply nodded in return.

The battle continued as such, the trio switching off alternatively as they took out the Sentinels, until a loud roar signalled to them that Illfang had reached its final health bar. As Masaya killed the last of the Sentinels via decapitation, the trio looked at the boss as it tossed away its axe and buckler.

"Yeah, looks like the Guide Book was right!" Kibaou exclaimed.

"Everyone, step back! I'll handle this!"

Diabel's voice and command took everyone by surprise, and the trio noted that he ran forward unflinchingly and began charging a sword skill.

"Wait, wasn't the plan to surround it when it was weakened?" Kirito asked Masaya for confirmation, but he didn't answer.

Because at that moment, Diabel had looked back and locked eyes with Masaya, smirking.

And that had confirmed it for him.

Together, they watched as Illfang reached back and pulled the weapon on its back, and as soon as it did, Masaya and Kirito gasped at the same time.

"Wait, that's not-!"

"Stop-!"

Their cries came too late, because as soon as Diabel rushed at Illfang, the boss jumped, landed on a pillar, pushed off that one, and continued jumping from pillar to pillar for a second, confusing Diabel and everyone else. That is, until it dashed directly at Diabel and slashed him shoulder to hip without giving him a chance to react.

"Argh!" Diabel screamed as he was sent flying back.

"Diabel, no!" Kibaou yelled out, but his attention was taken back to the fight as Illfang landed right in the middle of the raiding party and roared.

"Diabel!" Kirito exclaimed, running towards the downed man and attempting to take a health potion out. Masaya followed after him. As he lifted Diabel's head, he asked, "What the hell were you thinking?!"

When he tried to give him the potion, however, Diabel's hand intercepted it, pushing it back towards him. "You know…" Diabel whispered. "You… you two were beta testers too, weren't you?"

Kirito's eyes widened, but Masaya only frowned. "I knew it… You were a beta tester too, weren't you?"

"So… you were after the last attack bonus… the rare item," Kirito summed up.

"Please…" Diabel said, his voice growing hoarse as he began to lightly glow. "You have to… defeat the boss… for everyone here…"

And with those final words, the blue-haired man shattered into multi-coloured polygons, leaving behind an empty-handed Kirito, whose eyes were wide with shock.

Masaya closed his eyes and looked away, fighting down the sadness he felt. Now wasn't the time to be remorseful… but he couldn't help it.

He and Kirito had run away at the beginning of the game, focused only on their own survival… but Diabel, despite also being a beta tester, had done the opposite, rallying the other players and giving them hope.

He had done something they were unable to…

In that moment, a surge of rage overtook Masaya, and he tightly gripped his chokutō as he opened his eyes and glared directly at the one responsible for Diabel's death: Illfang.

Hearing steps at his side, he turned his head and watched as Kirito stepped up to stand next to him, a similar glare on his face. Locking eyes, the boys nodded at each other.

At the same time, however, another person slid up to his left.

"I'll go too," a soft voice said, belonging to Asuna.

Masaya and Kirito looked at her, and seeing the determination in her voice and posture, nodded, with Kirito giving out a single, "Okay."

Together, they ran forward, Kirito taking the lead as Illfang roared at the approaching trio.

"We'll hit him just like the minions!" Kirito yelled out.

"You got it," Asuna replied.

"Asuna, you and I will attack back to back!" Masaya ordered. "Hit him as many times as you can and with as wide a ratio as possible!"

Asuna nodded.

Illfang pulled his sword back, which began to glow. As it swung, Kirito yelled out a challenge and activated his own sword skill, slamming it against Illfang's attack and sending the Kobold Lord's nodachi flying upwards, with the force behind the deflection nearly leaving his arm numb.

As soon as that happened, Asuna flashed forward, but before she could finish activating her skill, Illfang's eyes flashed.

"Asuna!" Kirito exclaimed, making the girl gasp in a low tone.

Noticing the incoming sword, Asuna quickly ducked, the nodachi just missing her head and instead catching her hooded cloak, destroying it and leaving her head and shoulders bare, revealing the girl to have regal facial features, hazel eyes, and long, chestnut-coloured hair which had some of it braided into a half-circlet on the back of her head. All of that was made prominent as she pulled her sword back again and immediately activated another sword skill, which made her sword glow an orange colour. With a powerful jab, the girl sent the Kobold Lord flying back, which gave Masaya plenty of time to rush forward and slice a line right on its hide. He quickly jumped back, but was unable to get completely clear and got a strong slash to his arm, which sent him spinning back, his back slamming right into a pillar.

"Masako!" Kirito exclaimed, rushing forward and deflecting the follow-up slash that was headed for the brunet. As Masaya struggled to get up, he watched as Kirito deflected every slice sent at him, but when he tried to deflect a sword skill, Illfang pulled the same trick he had against Asuna and attacked in a split second, catching Kirito off-guard and sending him flying back right into Asuna, which sent them both sprawling to the floor.

"Kirito!" Masaya exclaimed, forcing himself up as Illfang dashed at the downed duo. He pushed himself forward, but he could see that he wouldn't make it in time. "Damnit, no!"

However, before Illfang's attack could connect, a green flash of light caught his eye, and a familiar battle axe deflected the nodachi, sending Illfang back at the same time. It was Agil.

As Masaya reached the struggling Kirito and Asuna, Agil looked back and smirked when the rest of the players began to run forward, yelling out their own challenges to the Kobold Lord. "We'll hold him back until you get your health up!" Agil exclaimed at the two that had been slashed.

Kirito and Masaya nodded and smiled, immediately pulling out health potions. As their health rose back to full, they watched as Agil and five other players bombarded Illfang with attacks. Illfang seemed to take it more like an annoyance, however, as it roared and pushed outward, sending the six players sprawling to the ground. It jumped up and pulled back its sword when it reached the apex, aiming for Agil, but Kirito didn't let it finish.

"No, you don't!" he exclaimed as he jumped up, intercepting Illfang's flight and slamming its side with a powerful sword skill, which sent the boss crashing to the ground a few metres away.

As Kirito ran forward, he yelled over his shoulder, "Come on Masako, Asuna! Help me beat this bastard with one last rush!"

"You got it!"

"Same as before!"

As Illfang stood and roared, the trio did the same, their blades glowing with power.

Illfang swung, and Kirito deflected it, sending its nodachi flying back. Asuna immediately followed up and jabbed forward, leaving several bright red points on Illfang's skin as he was sent further back. Masaya then ran forward, shifting his hold on his chokutō between forward and reverse grip as he sliced at Illfang's body at the exact points Asuna had attacked, playing a connect-the-dots game with them, turning and twisting at lightning speed; for unlike Asuna, whose attacks relied on bursts of speed, Masaya's attacks had to be continuously quick and relied on focus and fluidity, chaining sword skills and slashes back-to-back-to-back.

The trio repeated this team attack one more time before they were sure they had whittled down Illfang's health to its limit, and at that point, when Illfang shot forward and tried to impale Masaya, he twisted out of the way and jumped over the nodachi as it slammed into the ground, twirling upside-down in mid-air and slashing three lines into Illfang's hand, which made the beast recoil and let go of the blade.

"Kirito! Finish it!" Masaya exclaimed, and Kirito needed no more prompting. He ran forward, his Anneal Blade glowing, as he sliced upwards, cutting a bright line vertically on the Kobold Lord's body and damn near splitting it in half, the power behind the attack creating a small shockwave around the player and boss.

Illfang's body flew up, glowing with an ephemeral light. As Kirito began to fall back to the ground, his attack having lifted him into the air, the boss jerked several times before, with a bright flash, exploding into the typical polygons that made up everything in this world.

Silence reigned for several moments as the polygons rained down to the ground, followed by Kirito, who landed in a crouch and remained there, breathing heavily.

Then, to break the silence, a screen appeared above everyone, with one word written.

 **Congratulations!**

As everyone processed this, a loud cheer went up into the air, all of the players cheering and coming together as the lights to the room went down and everything was once again plunged into darkness. Masaya stood, smiling widely at the gasping Kirito, and headed over to him to congratulate him. Two others followed him.

"Nice job," Asuna simply said, crossing her arms and looking at the young man with an almost stony mask, though Masaya could see that she was more relaxed than before. That may just have been the lack of her usual cloak, though.

"That was some fine swordsmanship," Agil said with a satisfied smile. "Today's victory is all thanks to you."

As Kirito looked at them, unsure of how to react, Masaya stepped up to him and held his hand out, a smirk on his face.

"Great work, bro."

Kirito's eyes widened at the use of the nickname, and for a moment, Masaya was unsure if he had overstepped his boundaries. But when he saw the small smile on Kirito's face, he was glad that wasn't the case.

The smile left just as quickly, though, and Kirito didn't take Masaya's hand.

"No…" Kirito whispered, and at first, Masaya was unsure of why he reacted as such, until he remember what had happened just a few moments before.

Before he could say anything, however, several cheers came up, and clapping could be heard as well. Together, they turned back, watching the rest of the raid team as they smiled Kirito's way and clapped for him. Looking back at Kirito, Masaya was glad to see his face lighten up a little…

Until they were interrupted once again.

"Stop cheering!"

Everyone turned back to the source of the yell, which had turned out to be Kibaou, who was still on his knees and was looking down to the ground, a shadow covering his eyes.

"Why'd you do it, huh?!"

Kibaou's sudden accusation confused everyone, but his next words stopped that short.

"Why'd you let Diabel die?!"

A deathly silence filled the room, and at the opposite end, Kirito asked in a low voice, "Let him die…?"

"That's what I said!" Kibaou exclaimed. "Admit it, you knew the technique the boss was going to use! You could have warned us! Then Diabel wouldn't have had to die!"

Murmurs began to float around after his declaration. Masaya's hand landed on his sheathed blade, his grip tightening on it as he watched Kirito's face fall.

Then, someone else spoke up.

"I bet I know why! He used to be a beta tester! Think about it! He knew the boss' attack patterns! But he didn't tell us!"

Silence once again filled the room.

"And I bet he's not the only one here!" the same player continued. "Come on, show yourselves!"

Masaya's grip tightened even more as everyone else began to look around, as if trying to confirm at a glance who could be a beta tester.

"Hey, calm down…" Agil tried to reason with Kibaou as he walked up to him, Asuna following the tall man, but before he could continue, an odd sound rang out.

Laughter.

It started small, but in the quiet, it drew everyone's attention regardless. The laughter grew, and after a moment, everyone was able to pinpoint the source.

It was Kirito.

The young man laughed, his tone mocking. As he stood, his grin was all too clear to see. "So you guys think I'm a beta tester… It's not cool to put me in the same class as those losers."

"What?!"

"You heard me," Kirito responded to Kibaou's exclamation with the same derisive tone, walking through the group with the most uncaring moves he could make. "Most of the ones who signed up for the beta testing of SAO were greener than a grasshopper's ass. They couldn't even level up properly. Hell, you guys are better than they were when they started out."

As he walked past Kibaou, he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "But me, I'm far above them. During the beta test, I made it higher and father than any other beta tester. Of course I knew about the boss. I fought monsters with much better sword skills on higher floors."

As his grin widened, his eyes did the opposite and narrowed. "I know more than you can imagine."

"What the hell…?" Kibaou had nearly no words, but he found more a moment later. "If that's true, then that makes you way worse than a beta tester! You're a damn cheater, that's what you are!"

The rest of the group rallied behind Kibaou, yelling out their own insults.

"He's worse than a beta tester!"

"He's a beta tester and a cheater!"

"A _beater_!"

"A beater, huh…?" Kirito asked languidly. "Yeah… I like that. Okay, you can call me a beater. Just make sure you don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore, got it?"

And with those words, Kirito opened up his menu, accessed his inventory, and put on the item he had just gained. The final attack item acquired from being the one to destroy Illfang.

The Coat of Midnight.

In a blue flash of colour, a black trench jacket appeared on Kirito's body, the end flapping for a moment before settling.

Then, with nary but a condescending glance at Kibaou, he turned and walked away, headed to the steps that led to Floor 2.

"Hold it."

The voice stopped everyone in their tracks, and together, they turned to look at the one who had spoken, who still had his hand on the pommel of his sword.

"You really think I'm just going to stick around here?" Masaya said, his eyes closed. Then, he opened them, looking at Kirito with a grin. "You really think I'll just hang back with these guys?"

As everyone's eyes widened at his statement, Masaya began to walk forward, headed right for where Kirito was while drawing his sword and tossing it back and forth, turning and twirling it around himself.

"You seem to forget, Kirito, that while you may have gotten farther than anyone in the beta test, _I_ was the one with the most renowned sword skills. You got ahead by pure force, but me? I got damn near as far as you."

Finally standing just behind the slightly shorter, black-haired young man, Masaya grinned. "So if you think you can just leave me behind, you've got another thing coming."

"Masako, what the hell are you doing?" Kirito whispered.

Masako didn't answer. Instead, he walked right past him, heading up the stairs while saying, "Come on, the fields of Floor 2 aren't going to grind themselves, you know?"

With everyone staring at the pair in shock, Kirito finally smirked the same condescending smile he'd had before and went ahead. Due to this, though, both of them missed the quick footsteps that approached them.

"Wait."

The request wasn't yelled, but both guys heard it and turned in tandem to face the chestnut-haired girl that had approached them.

"What is it?" Masaya asked, though not unkindly.

"When we were fighting earlier, you both called me by my name."

Masaya raised an eyebrow as Kirito responded, "I wasn't trying to be rude."

"Ditto."

"Did we mess up the pronunciation or something?"

"How'd you even know it?"

The boys looked at each other, then Kirito turned to her and held a finger up to his left. "If you look around here, there should be two other names and health bars under yours."

Asuna focused on where he pointed, now truly focusing on the two other occupants of her sight.

"Ki-ri-to… Ma-sa-ko… Kirito and Masako? Which one's which?"

Masaya raised a hand. "I'm Masako, and Lord Emo over here is Kirito."

"Hey…!"

Asuna looked between the health bars and the two boys… then, surprisingly, giggled.

"Wow… how dumb I am. They were there the whole time and I didn't notice."

Masaya smiled a little, but Kirito turned away and opened his menu, saying, "You have the chance to become very strong in this world, Asuna. So if someone gives you the chance to join a guild… take it… because there's limits to how far a solo player can go."

"But… you're both solo players, aren't you?" Asuna asked, looking between them.

Kirito didn't answer, and in fact, he didn't even look back as he disbanded their party. Masaya, however, gave the girl a meaningful look, nodding in response to her question, before following the black swordsman.

* * *

"Alright, Masako, what the hell was that back there?" Kirito asked as soon as they had moved away far enough that they wouldn't be overheard.

"Hmm?" Masaya grunted, looking back at him. "Oh, well, I think the last thing I said describes it pretty well."

"Huh?"

Masaya stepped towards the young man, poking his forehead with an amused smirk.

"Hey!"

"If you think you're going to leave me behind, you've got another thing coming, Kirito."

"B-But…"

"I know damn well what you're trying to do," Masaya said as they kept walking. "And while it sounds dumb, it's pretty brave of you. But unfortunately, we were also right: there's a limit to how far a solo player can go." Masaya turned slightly and smirked at Kirito. "So why not make it two people?"

Kirito looked at Masaya for a few moments, then ducked his head, a little chuckle escaping him. "Gotta admit, it feels good to have someone watching my back like you do, Masako."

"Likewise, Mr. Gaming Master," Masaya joked, looking up as they finally exited the dungeon.

They had ended up in a forested area, one that had trees slightly thicker and much closer together than the small forests of Floor 1.

With a smile, Masaya ran forward and looked at Kirito over his shoulder. "Come on," he motioned. "We should get that teleport gate activated."

…

…

…


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Kirito, I think we're going to have to go on another resource hunt."

"You think?

"We're running low on leather overall, and it's always good to have some in stock. Besides that, I need to gather a few more Windwasp stingers to up my sword's sharpness, and if I remember correctly, you need some more materials to increase your blade's durability."

"Right. I'll go get ready."

As Masaya watched Kirito jog back into the log house they shared on the 30th floor, he smiled and looked out at the forest surrounding them. The floor was more of a jungle than the floors below, but finding a house here was quite cheap, as most living places were in the area but were 'treehouses' in a sense. Connected by bridges that spanned the tall trees and high enough that the occasional monster couldn't reach it and, hell, sometimes couldn't even see it, it was the perfect place for two 'Beaters'.

It was now almost a year since Sword Art Online began, and Masaya and Kirito had been together since the defeat of the first floor's boss six months before. They had gained quite a bit of infamy due to their stunt after said battle, but had taken on the title of Beater bravely, succeeding in Kirito's original goal of taking heat off beta testers by giving the majority of players a larger target to hate on, which secretly brought him some thankfulness from other beta testers, such as a friend of theirs and the best informant in Aincrad, Argo.

The pair appeared whenever needed in floor boss battles and such, and while they were normally assigned to mob clearing while the majority of the players took on the actual boss, they didn't mind doing so. Being solo players and Beaters meant that they could easily gain back the amount of EXP they may have missed out on, and neither was particularly picky. In fact, both guys were quite frugal with their spending and habits, so their money never went to waste. Practicality was their shared middle name.

"Ready, Masako."

Kirito came back out from the house, wearing his midnight blue coat with silver studs on the shoulders over a black and yellow shirt and grey pants. The coat had been won in a secret room the pair had found on the fifteenth floor, and after some debate, it was decided that Kirito should keep it to replace the now worn out Coat of Midnight won against Illfang the Kobold Lord.

Masaya had stuck to his style of dark camouflage pants and standard boots, but instead of the red shirt he had been wearing at the beginning, he had switched for a more wine-coloured shirt, over which he wore a sleeveless, light grey trench coat. It helped conceal his blade wherever he went, as opposed to Kirito, who kept his sword on his back and strapped above his coat.

"Alright, little bro. Let's get going."

Another thing that had changed between the duo was their closeness. Ever since Masaya had called Kirito 'bro' after the Illfang battle, and due to their constant camaraderie as the Beaters, Kirito had taken to Masaya as a younger brother would. The two would banter like actual brothers would, and Masaya eventually came to care for Kirito as an older brother would, teaching him of things he was sometimes clueless about, such as girls.

Spending an entire year surrounded by nothing but the fairer sex would certainly help open even the thickest person's eyes.

* * *

As they arrived at the twentieth floor, where they knew the monster drops for leather and other maintenance resources were the most common, they agreed to split up and look for their personal loot. After rechecking their stores of potions, crystals, and materials, the boys separated.

Masaya stalked through some of the bushes of the spacious forest floor. It was sometimes difficult to hide in such open spaces, but Masaya had become quite adept at doing so, choosing to take stealthy routes to defeat his opponents rather than go all out. That was Kirito's thing.

In just a few minutes, he spotted the nest he was looking for. Windwasps were notorious for making their nests very high up in trees, where the wind would blow the hardest, but they also tended to make their nests large enough to be spotted from a formidable distance.

As Masaya approached, he slowly gripped the black handle of his blade. Not too long after he had changed his outfit, he had gone out on his own for some level grinding and accidentally stumbled upon a quest that required him to kill a certain number of enemies. The trick was that he absolutely could not be spotted during the quest, otherwise it would become void. Using this as a great way to increase his Stealth ability, he obliged and took on the quest.

Suffice to say, it was a pain in the ass.

But it had come with a great reward: his current blade, the Silent Death, was a double-edged nodachi whose main stats overshadowed those of his previous chokutō, the Blighter, by a mile. The different stats and slightly different fighting style were difficult to get used to, but at this point, Masaya was nothing if not perseverant.

The second upside to his sword was that it was highly upgradeable. Unlike blades like Kirito's Anneal Blade, whose specific stats could be upgraded to only a certain level, the Silent Death's upgrades came in something of a package and were distributed as necessary by the system, so the blade would likely be good for use until the last quarter of the game.

Masaya gripped the black handle of his blade, eyeing the nest that was nestled in the crook of a tree. With a smirk, he reached down with his other hand and picked up a decently-sized pebble from the ground, remembering a move that Kirito had done when teaching Klein about how the sword skills worked. Pulling back his arm, he aimed the stone carefully, waited until the specific tense feeling of a powerful sword skill came, and then released it in a blast, flinging the stone directly towards the nest like a cannonball.

The powered stone sliced through the nest like paper, shredding it in two and almost immediately killing a third of the Windwasps inside it. As the rest of them buzzed angrily, Masaya smirked and came out, dismissing the window that had popped up momentarily. The rest of the Windwasps, recognising he had been the one to destroy their nest, or maybe just seeing him as the first possible target, began to surround him. This was a technique the Windwasps used that he was well accustomed to by now, and he found it useful.

Putting a hand on his blade's handle again, he smirked at the wasps and simply said, "Come on, then."

Together, two Windwasps shot out of the circling cloud and aimed their stingers his way. However, even before they reached the halfway point, Masaya was already moving, his glowing blade sliding out of its sheath and, in a spinning motion, cutting down the two attackers instantly.

The rest attacked in tandem, and in the next minute, Masaya found himself in a deadly dance, the wasps attempting to sting any part of him they could reach, while he dodged, weaved, and parried when needed to escape any status effects. The Windwasps had an interesting effect on a player: if their stingers landed, they would cause a two to three second stun on the target, which to Masaya felt like they had locked his body's movement temporarily with their namesake. And with the original group of thirty that had attacked him, it would be certain death if he allowed himself to be hit by even a single one, even at his current level.

But on the plus side, these enemies gave some pretty high amounts of EXP when killed; they had the necessary material for him to enhance his weapon's sharpness; and they gave him some damn good dexterity and dodging training.

As he ducked and weaved, Masaya kept track of every single one of the wasps. Each time they attacked and he dodged, another sword skill was unleashed and two to three wasps fell.

And by the next minute, every wasp had become multi-coloured polygons in the wind, and Masaya was looking at a screen detailing the amount of EXP, Col, and loot he had gained.

"Nice. Got everything I needed. Now that's lucky," Masaya commented aloud, twirling his blade by habit before sheathing it. "Now… where's Kirito?"

Opening up his map, he was able to track Kirito, the only other person in his party. Luckily, he wasn't too far, but to his puzzlement, there were apparently five others with him, all running in a single direction.

"That's odd. Made some friends, Kirito?"

* * *

As he approached the area where they had stopped, he could say that 'made friends' was actually the best description for it.

Kirito was currently with five other players, four male and one female. They all looked a little banged up, with the exception of the girl. She made up for it by looking terrified at the small army of goblins attacking them.

And there was Kirito, at the front with one of the players, a mace wielder. He was helping the kid fight off the mob, but by what Masaya saw, he was holding back. Why, exactly, he wasn't sure, but he could guess. This likely was part of the young man's insecurity due to him being a Beater.

With a small frown, he placed a hand on his sword, mentally counting the mob of goblins and ending with fourteen. It wasn't too many by his and Kirito's standards, but judging the four non-fighting players by their attitudes and attire, it could've killed any or all of them if Kirito hadn't stepped in. So with that, he stealthily made his way to the back of the mob, then lined himself up with the last line.

With a strong push forward, Masaya activated one of his long range sword skills, which left a blazing line at the back of the back, killed five of them in one go, and got half the mob's and the other players' attentions.

Now that he'd been seen, Masaya kept attacking the mob from the back. The goblins, unable or unwilling to change targets, were easy pickings for him, and in about a minute, were all gone, with Kirito's partner taking care of the last one by staving its chest in.

As the players relaxed, Kirito and Masaya sheathed their swords simultaneously. Before anyone could ask who the heck Masaya was, however, said young man broke the silence. "What's wrong, Kirito? You have a paralysis debuff on you? I know you're better than that."

Kirito looked at Masaya with an inscrutable eye, but he could recognise the look in the brunet's eyes.

 _'_ _We'll talk about this later.'_

"Yeah," Kirito went along with the act, shaking his extremities to add to it. "Got a bit careless with some vipers earlier and one of them bit me. Should wear off soon, though."

"Good to know. Thought you'd de-levelled on me for a second there," Masaya chuckled.

Before anything else could be said, the short-haired and only girl of the group stepped forward, her eyes shining, and grabbed Kirito's hand. "Thank you! Oh, thank you so much for coming to help us… I was so scared… I truly appreciate your help."

Masaya watched carefully as Kirito's face changed and his eyes widened, a bit of colour seeping into his cheeks. He seemed truly confused, which worried the brunet. Had the idea of being a solo player been ingrained so deeply into Kirito? Or was it something else? Something from his life outside SAO, maybe?

Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, Masaya instead smiled as he saw the rest of the players come forward and thank Kirito themselves. Then, however, they turned to him.

"Oh, that's Masako," Kirito hastened to explain. "He's my partner. We passed by this floor to stock up on some supplies and such."

"I see," a brown-haired boy, looking about Masaya's age, spoke with a small smile. "It seems we must thank you as well, Masako-san."

Masaya waved it off. "No need. If you want to thank anyone, thank Kirito. If it hadn't been for him, I likely wouldn't have found you guys."

"Would you guys like us to accompany you to the exit?" Kirito suddenly asked, waving the air slightly, probably checking his menu or inventory. "You guys aren't in the best shape."

Blunt as he may be, Kirito had a point.

"Thank you for your concern. We would be very grateful."

And so, together, the seven of us began the trek to the exit of the dungeon.

* * *

"Cheers, to Kirito!"

The smacking together of wooden cups accompanied this cheer, followed by a very confused Kirito laughing awkwardly.

As Masaya watched Kirito be showered in praise by the members of the Moonlit Black Cats, he had to contain his laughter. The poor boy was basically powerless at the moment, and his constant glances to Masaya asking for help only served to increase the hilarity of the situation.

After getting back from the dungeon, the guild had insisted on inviting the pair of Beaters to lunch, their treat. Masaya had tried to decline, saying that Kirito was the one who deserved it, but they had insisted to include him, so he agreed. Now that they were here, though, Masaya had taken a side role regardless, letting the guild focus on Kirito.

The reason for this was two-fold: Kirito was indeed the one that should be receiving the praise, as he was the one that had jumped in first; but mostly, it was because Masaya figured the atmosphere of friendliness and familiarity the Moonlit Black Cats gave off would be good for the young man. He was already antisocial to begin with, and if he started declining invitations like this left and right, there would be likely no return for him.

Masaya may not have mentioned it, but he could see the loneliness Kirito had from being alienated from the rest of the players. He was an exception, but he wasn't a cure. He couldn't always be there for the young man. Thus, he figured, some associating would be good for Kirito.

The leader of the guild, Keita, had also introduced the other members to the pair. There was Ducker, a dirty-blond boy who was a self-pronounced thief, a.k.a. a treasure hunter; Tetsuo, the forward player, who was nondescript in appearance except for his purple-themed armour and the mace and small shield he used; Sasamaru, their damage dealer, who had shaggy brown hair and wore green-themed armour; and finally Sachi, the only female in the group and another forward.

"So, Kirito, Masako, what levels are you two at? You must be pretty high to be farming down here so easily," Keita asked.

Glancing at Kirito, Masaya could see him frown for just a moment, so he jumped in and answered.

"We're both at level 40."

Almost immediately, Masaya felt the glare sent to him by Kirito, but if there was anything that hardly fazed him anymore, it was those. No offense to Kirito, but Masaya had received worse glares from the Maidens of Vincennes.

Now those had been truly hate-filled glares.

"Holy crap, you guys are strong," Tetsuo exclaimed, looking between the two with wide eyes.

"Are you two in the front lines?" Sasamaru asked.

"Yeah," Kirito eventually recovered and answered. "We've been helping the front liners move forward."

"Oh, man," Ducker said wistfully. "That's, like, our dream."

"Unfortunately, we're all levels 18 and 19," Keita said with a small cough. "So that's a long road ahead."

Masaya and Kirito glanced at each other, then Masaya took the reins. "Well, just by looking at your teamwork and overall abilities, I'd say that's not such a long road as you think. The only problem I see is that you guys need to better understand what you're getting into with certain floors and enemies, but otherwise, with some good grinding, you guys can go very far."

"You think so?" Sasamaru asked, hope in his eyes.

"Of course," Kirito followed up. "There's always limits to how far a solo player can go, but a guild, if well maintained, can go very far. And just looking at you, Keita, that's not a far off dream."

The guild smiled as one, and in that same moment, Keita placed a hand on Sachi's head, making the girls squirm cutely. "Well, along those lines… I was hoping to ask you a favour. You see, while you may be right, we do still need some help. Do you think you'd be willing to help us level? Sachi here's trying to get used to a sword and shield so she can switch her spear, but it's been difficult."

"Keitaaaa…" Sachi bemoaned, making everyone laugh a little.

Kirito once again looked at Masaya, who thought it over, but eventually shrugged and nodded. "We can be away from the front lines for a little while. From what I hear, the Knights of the Blood have been getting pretty big, as have the Holy Dragon Alliance. With those two, plus the smaller guilds, they'll survive."

Kirito nodded, then looked back at the guild with a smile. "You heard him."

"Awesome!" Ducker exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.

The rest of the party couldn't help but get caught up in the enthusiasm, and eventually, Masaya had to ask.

"As a team, you guys seem much closer than many of the other parties and guilds I've seen," he commented, phrasing the question as a statement.

Keita seemed to catch the meaning and wasn't at all offended. "Back in the real world, we're all part of our school's computer club. Just like that club, we decided to stick together in this world."

"Ah, I see," Masaya commented, sipping his red wine. "You guys already have an incredible advantage over the other, stronger guilds, you know."

"What would that be?" Sachi asked quietly.

"Trust, plain and simple," Masaya smiled at the girl. "Many of the guilds Kirito and I have seen around may have more members or higher level players, but many times, they're nothing more than acquaintances. They don't have a sense of familiarity, of family. You guys, however, do, and in spades. And with such support, just watch. Levelling up to a front line level will be easier than you think."

Everyone smiled at that.

* * *

Later that night, Masaya and Kirito met up on the balcony of Kirito's room of the inn.

"Alright, Masaya, what the heck was that about?" Kirito began heatedly. "Why did you tell them our actual levels? And why did you make up that paralysis thing on the field?"

Masaya watched Kirito calmly as he vented his questions, then asked him one in return, a very simple one.

"Answer me this: why lie?"

Kirito stared at him with a raised eyebrow, then opened his mouth to answer. Halfway there, though, his thought process came to a halt as he realised something, and he closed his mouth. He opened it to try again, but once again stopped short.

"I…" Kirito finally began. "I don't know."

"Exactly," Masaya said. "The Black Cats are a great guild. Just by looking at them, you can tell they have a great potential. And you're a high-levelled player who has agreed to help them level. Tell me, what level were you planning to tell them you were?"

"… Level twenty."

"And you're twice that level," Masaya pointed out. "Why fake them out by telling them you're weaker than you are? Neither you nor they deserve that. And can you imagine if and when they found out?"

Kirito remained silent, looking at the village outside.

"Additionally, by coming clean from the beginning, you have more of a range to teach them, as they know what to expect. But that's all I'll say on the matter. Actually helping them will be your job."

"What?! Aren't you-?"

"Don't worry, I'll be around. But you're the one who got in this situation, Kirito, and you're the one that they came to."

And with a pat on the shoulder, Masaya returned to his own room.

* * *

Over the next month, the Moonlit Black Cats would see a great increase to their levels and spirits.

With Kirito's help, they were able to grind higher levelled mobs that would yield more EXP. Typically, Kirito would weaken the enemy enough that a few strikes from one of the others to finish it. However, he didn't coddle them. If he knew that one or two of them could take on the enemy, even with high difficulty, he would let them do so, as doing such does help build character. The only one he ever came close to coddling was Sachi, but that was an obvious one due to her self-esteem issues and her lack of courage.

During these runs, Masaya would mostly stick back and talk with Keita. He found his talks with the young leader interesting. The man had unquestioning belief on his friends, but he wasn't above reprimanding them if needed. He had all the qualities of a charismatic leader, and Masaya praised him for it. However, the young man also had a strong dependency to his friends. Masaya could see it in the looks he gave them. Should anything happen to them, Masaya wasn't sure what he would do, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty.

Eventually, Kirito and Keita agreed that switching Sachi to a sword and shield combo was a lost cause, and thus decided to let her stick to her spear and help her with it. Kirito wasn't exactly well versed in spears ("It's called _Sword_ Art Online!"), and Keita was only proficient with staffs, so they decided to go searching for some info in another floor. In the meantime, Masaya took over Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Ducker's training, and he was a much more ruthless teacher than Kirito. He only came to help them when he was one hundred percent sure they couldn't handle it. However, that had Masaya's intended effect: if the boys saw that Masaya wasn't stepping in, that told them they _could_ beat the enemy. Thus, they would throw themselves into the fight not only energized, but more tactical as well, bringing out all they could to prove him right.

He made sure to stress that impressing him wasn't their objective; levelling up was. But at the same time, he explained that they should not underestimate themselves.

In a week, they were able to go up one floor to grind. In a month, that turned to five floors up.

And throughout, the guild's spirits were high.

Or so everyone thought.

* * *

One night, as he was laying on his bed after a day of training, Masaya received a message.

Opening it, he noted it was a voice message, and it was from Keita. A little worried, he pressed play.

 _"Hey, Kirito, Masako. I'm out right now, but I got a message from Sasamaru saying that Sachi wandered off. We're not sure where she went to, and it's gotten worrying. If you could help us find her, I would really appreciate it."_

Masaya's eyebrows contracted as he thought of this. He could guess why Sachi left, but he wasn't sure how to track her down.

Kirito, however, did.

With that thought, Masaya checked in with Kirito via message to make sure he got it, then got up and went to Sasamaru's room, where he knew the three boys were gathered.

He had faith in his little brother.

* * *

Sure enough, a few hours later, Kirito showed up with Sachi in tow, the short-haired girl apologising profusely for worrying everyone. The rest of the guild was entirely understanding, and throughout the grouping, Masaya noted that Sachi never strayed far from Kirito's side. Likewise, Kirito kept glancing at the girl, and a strange look would pass his face each time.

Masaya was familiar with that look. He had seen it on himself in reflections when he had tricked Chiho into going with him down to Pappatore Moon Rock, and when he had gone after Ayaka with Ritsuko after she had been kidnapped. When he had rushed after his father for hurting Chiho in his hare-brained money schemes, and when he had taken a knife to the gut from Rise's mother.

That was the face of someone who would do everything to protect another.

* * *

"Alright, I'll be seeing ya!"

With a raised hand, Keita disappeared into the teleport gate.

"Man, I can't believe we're going to get our own place!" Ducker exclaimed, giddy with excitement. "Hey, we should totally go grind some more! Get some more Col!"

"Then we can buy furniture!" Sachi exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Tetsuo agreed, with Sasamaru nodding a second later.

"Hey, let's surprise Keita and go up to floor 27!" Ducker exclaimed. "We can handle it!"

Kirito and Masaya frowned. "I don't think that's the best idea," Kirito started.

"Ah, come on, it won't be too bad!" Ducker said. "Besides, you'll be there with us, and you're both super strong!"

Kirito and Masaya looked at each other. Kirito was unsure, while Masaya was worried. Looking at the group, the boys could see that while Tetsuo and Sasamaru were for it, Sachi seemed a little apprehensive. Looking at each other again, Masaya shrugged.

"He's not wrong. Let's just keep an eye out."

Kirito nodded, and with that, they went to the 27th floor's dungeon.

* * *

After an hour, their spirits were high. Nothing bad had happened, and Masaya and Kirito were able to relax.

That is, until the journey back.

As they were traversing a corridor filled with neon green lighting, Ducker suddenly stopped and put a hand on the wall.

"What's up, Duck?" Tetsuo asked.

"This section of the wall... It's different," Ducker explained, looking up and down the corridor. "I'm sure of it. It breaks the pattern."

Looking at the section Ducker was pointing to, the rest could see he was correct.

"Good eye, Ducker," Sachi complimented him.

Ducker grinned at her, then began to poke the wall experimentally. As he did, the two Beaters looked at each other once again, their worry returning. This hadn't been discovered when they'd passed through here. A hidden room was usually good, though, so they decided to give it a go.

Ducker needed no further prompting. He quickly managed to decipher the 'code' of the room, and in a minute, the piece of wall in front of them slid up, revealing... an empty room, save for one single treasure chest at the far end.

This immediately set off Masaya's danger senses, but before he could call out a warning, Ducker rushed into the room, Tetsuo and Sasamaru hot on his heels. Without even checking to see if it was a trap, the dirty-blond opened the chest.

Immediately, the entire room was bathed in red, and a klaxon sounded out. Reacting on instinct, Kirito rushed into the room, drawing his sword, but as Masaya and Sachi made to follow, the very same section of wall that had move up now came down forcefully, cutting them off.

"No!" Sachi screamed, moving forward and hitting the wall with her fists. "Ducker! Tetsuo! Sasamaru! Kirito-kun!"

Through the wall, the young woman could hear the sounds of exclamations and sword skills being activated. Those only served to further drive a spike of fear into her heart.

Masaya, meanwhile, forced himself to calm down, once again placing his trust in his friend to protect everyone else, and frowned at the wall. He saw nothing noteworthy about it, but when he looked up a little, he was startled to see something out of place.

A health bar.

"What…?" he asked aloud, looking at the wall and the floating health bar. It had to be. "Sachi, step back."

When the girl made no move to heed his order, he reached out and grabbed her shoulder, forcefully bringing her away from the wall. She turned, intent on giving him an earful, twice her level be damned, but was unable to say a single thing when she saw an orange blur pass by her, followed by the entire section of corridor they were standing at shake.

Trembling, she looked back at the wall, where she came to a shocking sight.

Masaya was currently glaring at the wall, his fist placed right against it, with cracks webbing out of the point of impact.

"I see," Masaya commented aloud. "If only the Cats had come by, then by the time anyone managed to break this down, it would be too late. But you're blocking my way, friend, so prepare to turn into rubble."

And before Sachi could question Masaya's actions any further, Masaya pulled back his other fist and turned it just a little. Almost immediately, his fist was surrounded by a silver glow, signalling… an activated skill?

"It can't be," Sachi gasped.

With a sound similar to a battering ram, Masaya's fist blurred forward and slammed into the wall, once again shaking the section of corridor they were standing at. His second punch had made a similar small crater on the wall, and now that she wasn't as surprised as the first time, Sachi could hear a familiar sound, signalling the loss of health.

Looking up, she now noticed the lone health bar floating just above the wall, and currently, a third of it was missing.

Looking down at the wall with wide eyes, she finally, fully understood what Masaya meant.

Pulling back his right fist, this time Masaya lightly cursed as he impacted the wall. This damn thing was tough.

"Come on, let… me… in… al-rea-dy!" Masaya yelled, each syllable being punctuated by a punch to the wall, his speed increasing.

One punch, then another, and another, and in a few seconds, his form blurred, his punches coming forward as a barrage against the wall.

Sachi watched in astonishment as the health bar decreased little by little, each one of Masaya's punches shaving off just that much more health. It was now she realised the wall was likely at the same level as Masaya, and should she have tried to attack it, she would never have been able to destroy the wall.

But just as she finished that thought, Masaya managed it.

With a final yell, Masaya pulled back his fist, and this time, it glowed with an ethereal red light. Then, it blurred forward, and with a sound like a cannon blast, the wall finally shattered and caved in, falling to rubble that eventually broke into the multi-coloured polygons that made up this world.

Inside the room, everything had frozen. The four boys were standing in a back-to-back star formation, and Sasamaru and Ducker showed quite a bit of damage already. Tetsuo was a little luckier due to his shield. Kirito, being twice their level, was faring much better, but even he had some scrapes.

As soon as the wall had broken, however, the enemies attacking them had stopped in their tracks. The boys couldn't blame them, for their eyes had also been drawn to the figure at the entrance, a panting Masaya with a still-glowing outstretched fist.

Then, the brunet looked up and smirked at the occupants of the room. "Knock, knock."

As if that had been an activation phrase, the Mineral Elementals and Dark Dwarf Miners in the room focused on him, their red eyes glowing as they rushed at the figure that had broken in. Having suddenly gotten all of the monsters' aggro, Masaya pulled out his sword and prepared himself for the oncoming onslaught.

"You three, stay back and take some potions!" Kirito exclaimed, charging up the sword skill Linear. The three Moonlit Black Cat members didn't argue, sticking back for now as Kirito and Masaya fought the constantly respawning enemies.

* * *

Finally, a full five minutes later, the final Mineral Elemental was destroyed by a slash from Kirito, and the room returned to its bright neon green colour again. Panting in exhaustion, Masaya and Kirito collapsed on their butts, Masaya leaning against the doorway.

"Kirito-kun!" Sachi exclaimed, running into the room and glomping the tired young man, who was unable to hold them both up and collapsed onto his back, with Sachi on top of him. As the rest of the guild stepped forward, Sachi unlatched herself from Kirito and hugged them as well, crying the whole time. The boys were a little awkward about it, but no worse for wear.

Finally, she turned back to Masaya, who was still heavily breathing, and knelt by him, hugging him as well. "Thank you," she said in a breathy voice. "Thank you for saving them."

Masaya chuckled weakly and patted the girl's back. "It was my pleasure. And you should give Kirito a second glomp. He definitely deserves it for protecting them."

The girls stiffened against him, and when she pulled back, Masaya could see a blush on her cheeks. In a rare moment of courage, she did just that, however, coming up to Kirito and hugging him more calmly, asking him in a low voice if he needed anything. The young man, Masaya could see, was perplexed at this, but when he understood what was happening, he blushed hard enough to rival Sachi.

Meanwhile, Masaya finally got his breathing under control and stood, sheathing his sword with his usual flourish. Looking at the three other boys, who were staring at Sachi with apparent confusion (and some pride, in Tetsuo's case), he stepped forward, tapping Ducker's shoulder.

"Ye- Ow!"

Hearing the exclamation of pain, everyone turned to see Ducker flat on his butt, clutching his head, while Masaya stood over him, a severe scowl on his face and one of his hands curled in a fist.

"What the heck were you thinking?" Masaya asked faux-calmly, staring down at the blond boy.

Looking up, Ducker could see the disappointment in Masaya's eyes, and thus lowered his sight again.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I got a little too carried away."

Masaya nodded, then looked up at Tetsuo and Sasamaru. "You two as well. What were you thinking, running into the room like that?"

"What?! If we hadn't run in, then Ducker would've been slaughtered!" Sasamaru exclaimed.

"Did you forget who else ran in as soon as the alarms sounded?" Masaya asked rhetorically, pointing over his shoulder at Kirito, who was still being tended to by Sachi. "But that's not what I'm griping to you about. You're as much to blame for this as Ducker. Did I or did I not teach you three to question every secret room you found in this damn game?"

The three looked down, unable to counter the claim.

"Just count yourselves lucky that both Kirito and I were here. If it had been only one of us, I doubt we'd have been able to help you all," Masaya said sombrely. "Do you have any idea how distraught Sachi and Kirito, not to mention Keita, would be if you three died?"

When the three looked up, their eyes wide with shock and subsequently, realisation, he knew they hadn't thought that far.

* * *

A few minutes later, they were all finally able to leave the dungeon. Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Ducker were all quiet, trudging along silently; Sachi was still sticking by Kirito, her hands shaking a little as the adrenaline of the moment earlier had finally left; and Kirito was talking with Masaya, explaining to him what had happened on the other side of the wall.

When they finally arrived at the point where they had agreed to meet with Keita, it was already sunset and they were all dead on their feet.

Keita was shocked to see them all in such a condition, and once everything was explained, he also wasted no time in berating the three other boys for their recklessness. They guys understood well enough, so it didn't take too long, and eventually, the group's spirits were once again lifted by the good news that Keita brought.

"I did it, guys. We now have headquarters!"

The group cheered, and together, they headed to the Starting City.

* * *

The next morning, Masaya came downstairs to find the Black Cats and Kirito lounging about the living room of the two-story house Keita had bought for them.

"Kirito," he called out, catching everyone's attention. When said young man looked his way, he continued, "It's time for us to go."

"Huh?" This was the question asked by the entire guild, but Kirito didn't look at all surprised.

Instead, he nodded and stood up, dusting off his pants. When he turned to the guild, they were all staring at him, asking for some explanation. With a sigh, he said, "We've been away from the front lines for too long. Beaters we might be, but we're still two of the strongest players, and we need to be out there. Masako and I have taught you all that we could, and with what happened from when we met you guys until yesterday, I hope you guys have understood just how threatening the world out there is."

"So… you're leaving…?" Sachi asked in a small voice.

Kirito's face scrunched up a little as he realised the girl was almost in tears at the thought. He looked at Masaya, who answered his wordless question with a nod. Nodding back, Kirito walked up to Sachi and grabbed her hand, startling her. Without a word, he pulled her to her feet and walked to the back of the house, bringing her along and saying nothing but a simple, "Give us a minute, guys."

When he heard the sound of the back door of the house closing, Masaya sighed and plopped onto one of the unoccupied seats, immediately being pinned by sight of the four boys in the room.

"So, it's for real, then?" Tetsuo asked.

"Yes," Masaya responded with a nod. "We need to help the players clear the game as soon as humanly possible, whether they like it or not."

"So you're not going to be training us anymore?" Ducker asked sadly.

Masaya smiled calmly. "As Kirito said, we've taught you all we can. Now, it's up to you to take the reins and move up in this world. Just remember: never lose the familial bond you share. In this world, levels and stats are just numbers, but there's many things that are more important than ever to hold on to, and the bond you can have with others is one of the highest."

Just as he finished, the sound of the back door opening rang out. Looking over his shoulder, Masaya noted that both Kirito and Sachi were blushing, Sachi more so than Kirito, and their hands were lightly intertwined.

"Ready to go?" Masaya asked.

Kirito nodded, then let go of Sachi's hand and placed it on her shoulder. He whispered a few words into her ears, then they separated.

"Good luck, guys," Masaya said as they started walking to the front door.

"And I hope that one day, we'll be seeing you at the front lines," Kirito continued the thought with a smile, waving at them over his shoulder.

* * *

Once outside the building, Masaya could see Kirito's shoulders visibly sag.

"Everything alright, little bro?" Masaya asked.

"Sort of… I know that it's for the best that we get back to the front lines, but I can't help feeling bad… and a little apprehensive."

Masaya nodded sagely. "I understand, and I feel the same. But the fact of the matter is… you now have something more to fight for, no?"

Kirito looked at him, and was immediately put on guard by the suggestive smile on Masaya's face.

"W-What?"

"Don't think I didn't notice, kiddo," Masaya chuckled as he walked ahead, heading to the teleport gate of the Starting City. "Come on. The faster we get to help the front liners, the faster you can come to visit your girlfriend, right?"

The slightly outraged splutters behind him made Masaya made him laugh aloud.

"M-Masako! It's not like that! Hey, listen to me! Don't just laugh!"

* * *

Omake

* * *

One punch, then another, and another, and in a few seconds, his form blurred, his punches coming forward as a barrage against the wall.

Sachi watched in astonishment as the health bar decreased little by little, each one of Masaya's punches shaving off just that much more health. It was now she realised the wall was likely at the same level as Masaya, and should she have tried to attack it, she would never have been able to destroy the wall.

Then, oddly, she began hearing another sound. She couldn't pinpoint it at first, but she soon realized that it was coming from Masaya.

"...ra ...ra... ra..."

Sachi moved closer, trying to hear what he was saying.

That was how, in the next moment, she was sent flying back onto her ass when Masaya suddenly began to yell one phrase over and over.

" **ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA"**

* * *

 **The end.**

* * *

…

…

...


	5. Chapter 5

"Please, help me!"

Masako stopped short as he heard that.

He had to admit, if there was one thing his Vincennes friends were right about, it's that he had a bleeding heart in many cases. He could never ignore a person in need.

That was just one of the ways he and Kirito were similar.

Turning to where he heard the call for help as he put down the teleport crystal he was studying, he watched as a sandy-haired young man walked around in circles at the entrance of the city. His face showed a desperation Masaya hadn't seen in many people lately, and to his surprise, there were rivers of tears falling from his eyes.

Whatever was affecting this young man must be something really deep.

His facial expression tightened into a frown when he saw that every other player was purposefully avoiding the area the young man was circling, and when he got very close, they immediately jogged away.

"Bunch of cowards," Masaya muttered, his mind made up. With purposeful steps, he approached the young man, who almost immediately spotted him.

"You! Sir, please, can you help me?!" the young man exclaimed, approaching Masaya, who put on a calming smile and held up his hands.

"Hey, calm down. I can try, but you need to relax a little," Masaya attempted to slow him down, with marginal results. The young man nodded, almost visibly shaking as he attempted to get himself under control. Once he nodded once, as if to confirm to himself that he could talk without expelling his nasal cavities out his mouth, Masaya asked him gently, "What's the problem?"

The young man looked up and locked eyes with Masaya, and in that moment, Masaya could see a pure agony in his eyes that nearly made him take a step back. "I'm the leader of the guild called the Silver Flags… or I was. A little over a week ago, my guild and I were attacked by another guild, an orange one called Titan's Hand, on the 35th floor, in the Forest of Wandering. I managed to escape… but my guild mates… my friends…"

The young man was unable to finish, but he didn't need to. Masaya got the picture clearly, and just imagining what this young man went through made several spikes of rage course through his veins.

Not the least because he could almost see his little brother figure in this young man's shoes, having the guild he was with be wiped out with him being the lone survivor. But for it to be done by another guild… by other humans…

"And you want me to bring them in?" Masaya asked, a hard edge to his voice.

The young man nodded, pulling out a large, rectangular, ornate crystal. "I spent the rest of my money on this Gate Crystal. It leads straight to the jail on the first floor. I don't know the leader's name, but she's a redhead and uses a spear. Please… please, take them down if you can. I can't… I'm too weak…"

A hand on his shoulder stopped the young man's words. Looking up, he locked eyes with Masaya, who was looking very serious. With a calm hand, Masaya took the crystal from the young man's hand, then pulled up a trade window and added to it enough money to buy the minimum supplies needed to survive in this floor, plus the Blighter that he had held onto even after acquiring the Silent Death.

"Here, take this," Masaya said. "I think you'll need it."

"B-but I…"

Masaya's hand on his shoulder tightening slightly cut off any further retort the young man had. "Take it… and survive." Masaya continued. "Don't let server logs describe what happened here. Get stronger, get to the end of this game, and go back to the real world. If not for yourself, then for those who were unjustly cut down by bastards that get their kicks taking away others' lives. Understood?"

The young man stared wide-eyed at the brunet, but in the next moment, a fire seemed to be lit inside his irises, and he nodded resolutely, accepting the trade.

For a final exchange, Masaya sent the young man a friend request, which confused him. "Add me, and if you're ever in trouble, or need a helping hand in something, send me a message. I'll be happy to help you out."

The young man smiled and nodded, accepting the friend request. In Masaya's menu, a new name appeared under the names of Kirito, the members of the Moonlit Black Cats, and Agil, the blacksmith they had fought with against Illfang the Kobold Lord.

It read, "Yusuke."

Similarly, in Yusuke's window, a name appeared as he accepted the friend request.

"Wait, Masako?" Yusuke said as he processed the name. "You're… one of the Beaters everyone keeps condemning?"

With solemn eyes, Masaya nodded. To his surprise and slight delight, Yusuke smiled.

"Well… thank you. Thank you for helping me."

"It's my pleasure. Reports of my cheating have been greatly exaggerated."

To his glee, Yusuke's face split into a smirk as he recognised the reference. A moment later, his smirk became a more solemn smile, and with a single nod, he said, "Thank you, Masako, for all of this."

"Like I said, it was my pleasure. You just get to levelling and getting some better armour, and I'll see you on the front lines sometime, alright?"

"You got it!"

As he watched Yusuke jog away, a sure feeling to his steps, Masaya smiled. Such feelings of happiness were why he liked helping others. There was just a feeling of satisfaction when he saw the person he helped smile happily that fulfilled him.

With a shake of his head, he decided to check on Kirito and see if he'd help him out, but to his surprise, when he checks on Kirito's location, he finds out that the Black Swordsman is already on Floor 35.

"What could he be doing there?"

* * *

When Masaya arrived at the town of the 35th Floor, he found out just what.

"Really, Kirito? I leave you for less than a day and you're already being a knight in shining armour," Masaya sighed as he stepped closer to his friend, having overheard the conversation they were having.

Both people turned around immediately, though Kirito relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Damnit, Masako, don't do that," Kirito chided him.

"Do what?" Masaya asked innocently.

"You know damn well what!"

As they talked, Masaya became aware that the young girl to their right was looking between the two of them, looking more and more confused.

"Um… Kirito-san?"

Hearing her voice, Kirito suddenly started. "Oh, right! Sorry, Silica! This is Masako, a friend of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you," Masako said, shaking her hand.

"The pleasure is mine," Silica said with a smile.

Before Masaya could respond, a voice suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, it's Silica."

Together, the trio turned to gaze upon the approaching group, the leader of whom caught Masaya's attention.

Woman, red hair, wielding a spear. Check, check, and check.

This had to be her.

"It's so nice to see you made it out of there," the redhead said in a condescending voice that sent shivers up Kirito's spine and gave Masaya a weird sense of déjà vu. "But where's your feathered friend?"

"Pina… died," Silica said in a low voice.

"Well, isn't that just a shame," the redhead sighed, though they all could tell it was fake.

"B-But we're going to revive her!" Silica exclaimed, getting some second wind. "We'll totally bring Pina back!"

"Oh? I suppose that means you'll be heading to the Hill of Memories. But at your level? Please."

"She'll be fine," Kirito suddenly spoke up, stepping forward. "The place isn't that difficult, and I'll be with her."

The redhead's eyes focused on Kirito and narrowed in disdain. "Oh dear, another poor sap she's seduced. That may be so, but you don't look _that_ strong."

Kirito raised an eyebrow, then turned back to the other two. "Come on, you guys, let's get going."

Silica was more than happy to follow him, but as Masaya passed by the redhead, their eyes met, and he had to force himself to not draw his sword and take her down then and there. Instead, he moved on, leaving an unspoken challenge in the air.

* * *

"Why does she have to be so mean?" Silica pouted, and though it looked cute, Masaya could see the very real sadness in her eyes.

The trio were sitting inside a restaurant that Silica had brought them to. According to her, they served the best cheesecake in Aincrad so far, and she was quite the fan.

"Well, is SAO your first MMO?" Kirito asked.

Silica nodded, and Masaya couldn't help but smile.

"Guess we have something in common, then," Masaya commented.

"Is it your first as well?" Silica asked, and though she said it innocently, neither male could miss the possible innuendo there.

"Erm, yes," Masaya said, coughing a little as Kirito smirked and looked away. "This is actually one of the few games I've played in my life, so you could say it's my first in a few ways."

That made Kirito almost crack up, but he contained it valiantly. One aspect of Masaya that anyone living with him had to know is that he had developed a penchant for making sexual innuendos, especially after he found out that Kirito, while not in any way innocent, was easily embarrassed. Nowadays, he cracked several dirty jokes a day, each of which made Kirito either blush up a storm or crack up laughing.

Silica, however, was still just a bit too innocent to get it, so she spent the next few seconds staring in confusion at Kirito's facial expression, which resembled what one might have if they had just swallowed a particularly sour candy.

"Well," Kirito continued after letting out an awkward cough, "in many games, some people actually like playing as a villain. Having the mask of another person changes the actions of some people, and while some become kind, others become evil."

"It's not just in games, either," Masako, as Silica now knew him, spoke up. "On the internet in general, the mask of anonymity makes some people let go of their usual inhibitions and masks. What you are in the dark indeed…"

As Masaya's words went on in an unintelligible mumble, Kirito continued. "But… SAO is different."

Silica noted that the fingers holding his cup tightened significantly.

"SAO isn't a game anymore. We're supposed to be out there, working together to try and clear this game… and yet, there's still some that like seeing others suffer… Those are the worst kind of people to me."

Masaya looked at his younger brother figure, whose eyes were narrowed and looked to be in pain. He frowned at the expression on his face, but before he could say anything, Silica beat him to the punch by jumping forward and clasping his tightened hands with her own.

When Kirito looked up in surprise, she gazed into his eyes with a determination neither had seen in her. "Well, I think that Kirito-san is a good person! I mean, you did save me, you know?"

Both boys stared at her in astonishment, but eventually, Kirito relaxed and smiled at Silica. "Huh, it seems I was the one that ended up being comforted…"

That's when Silica seemed to realise what she was doing, and an instant later, she jumped back and landed on her own seat, waving at her now red face. As he looked between the flustered girl and the now calm young man, Masaya couldn't help but think that Kirito _had_ to know what he was doing.

Regardless, they continued to talk a little more, but after a few minutes, they decided to get two rooms and head to bed.

* * *

"Hey, Masako, everything alright?" Kirito asked as they entered their own room.

He had noticed that Masaya's face had been kind of constricted, as if he were thinking deeply about something.

When he looked at Kirito, Masaya realised he had never explained why he'd come looking for him and decided to explain what had happened with Yusuke.

…

"So you mean that the redhead we saw earlier…?"

"Yeah, that's most likely the leader of Titan's Hand."

"Why didn't you say anything about it earlier, then?!"

Masaya looked at the standing Kirito, who was looking at him as if he were crazy. "Kirito, if I'd called her out on it and attacked her, what do you think would have happened?"

Kirito pulled back a little, surprised by the rebuttal and question, but when he thought about it, he realised Masaya had a point.

"…It would've looked bad on your end, and mine by proxy. Plus, since it's a safe zone, threatening her would have been next to worthless."

"Exactly," Masaya nodded. "However, there's one thing I noticed. When you mentioned that you were going to revive Pina, she immediately recognised the place that you'd be headed to. If the method to revive familiars was just discovered a few days ago, how in the world would she know you're heading to the Hill of Memories?"

Kirito put a hand to his chin. "Yeah… it's weird." Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Wait, that means that the party that she was with while she was with Silica-!"

Masaya closed his eyes in frustration. "Yeah."

Kirito's hands clenched. "And the same thing probably would've happened to Silica if she hadn't quit at that point."

"We need to be ready for tomorrow, Kirito," Masaya said resolutely, standing up from his bed. "Silica needs to know what she's getting into."

"What?! But Masako, if I tell her an orange guild is after her…"

"It might scare her, yeah, but the fact of the matter is she's a target. She needs to know what's going on."

Kirito looked down for a moment, but then sighed and nodded. "I'll go talk to her."

When the young man left, Masaya waited for a few moments, then walked out himself and closed the door, moving to a corner of the hallway and using his highly upgraded Stealth ability to cloak himself in the shadows there. The only object illuminating the hallway was a single lamp, and its light was already puttering out.

And he waited.

No more than a minute later, the brunet heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Watching carefully, he saw a cloaked person appear, attempting to tiptoe as best as he or she could. As he suspected, the wannabe eavesdropper stopped at the door to Silica's room, and when he leaned down to put his ear to the keyhole, Masaya struck.

Like a viper, Masaya pushed himself away from the wall and shot towards the cloaked person, who was entirely unprepared for the attack. As he tried to jump away, Masako shot out his right elbow, landing it right on the person's sternum and sending him flying towards the opposite wall, which he slammed against.

The place was a safe zone, which prevented the person from losing health, but that didn't mean that the impact didn't still hurt.

As the person flopped to the floor, the door to Silica's room opened forcefully and Kirito ran out.

"Who's there?!" he exclaimed, looking around. When he noticed Masaya facing away from him and another person lying on the floor, he relaxed somewhat.

"What?! What is it?!" Silica asked, coming out as well and looking at the scene from underneath Kirito's arm. She was wearing a shirt several sizes too large for her, which covered her like a nightgown, and her hair was down for now.

"Just catching an eavesdropper," Masaya commented offhandedly. "You two can go back to whatever it was you were doing. Just don't make too much noise."

Kirito made an odd, strangled noise, and while she was younger than either male by a bit, even Silica understood that one, making her face heat up like a steam engine.

"M-Masako!" Kirito exclaimed, but all he got in response was a dismissive wave motion from the brunet, so he shook his head in exasperation and ushered Silica back into her room.

Masaya, meanwhile, approached the person on the floor and pulled him up forcefully by his cloak, making him face Masaya. The Beater noted that the person had a green crystal, but that didn't mean anything to him so far.

"Now, care to explain yourself?" the young man said in a low voice.

The person made some mild grumbling noises, but otherwise didn't respond. With a sigh of irritation, he reached up and pushed back the hood of the person, showing to him a nondescript face with hair that was a shade of brown lighter than his and was styled in a windswept style.

"Now you listen to me, and listen well. I don't particularly care for bastards that try to hurt those I care about, and you've made it to that list. Now we could do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way, but either way, I'm stopping your little band of merriment."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the man said, his eyes shifting everywhere but never meeting Masaya's.

"Oh, don't you? So I suppose you wouldn't know or be part of the guild known as… Titan's Hand?" The man's eyes widened, and his breathing became shallow. "Seems like I hit the nail on the head."

"W-What do think you can do?" the man spoke with false bravado, his face covered in sweat. "I'm a green player. You try to hurt me, and…"

When the man trailed off, Masaya smirked. "Seems you figured it out."

"H-How?!" the man gargled out, looking just above Masaya's head.

"Well, it seems that SAO has a neat little glitch of sorts. If you attack another player, sure, your cursor will turn orange, but…" Masaya's smirk became a little darker. "It seems that if you don't activate a skill when doing so, it won't count."

"B-B-But how?! How did you hurt me?!"

"Momentum," Masaya shrugged. "Plain and simple. It was something of a test, but it worked."

In essence, it wasn't Masaya that had hurt him. The impact with the wall had.

Before the man could ask what he was talking about, Masaya brought his face closer. "But enough about that. Choose already: easy or hard way?"

"W-What's the hard way…?" the man asked with dread.

"Well, it's just become night-time. Most players are dead to the world. NPC's are pretty easy to fool if you know how. And this town has plenty of back alleys and rooftops." Turning back to the man, Masaya grinned. "If one with a high enough Stealth level wanted to, he could… oh, I don't know… stuff another player's mouth with a rag, drag them outside the safe zone… and feed them to the monsters?"

The man's eyes widened significantly at that, and with that reaction, Masaya glared into his eyes.

"So if you don't want to be a smear on a Drunken Ape's club… talk."

* * *

Masaya yawned as he woke up, sitting up and stretching this way and that.

Looking around blearily, he realised that Kirito was already out. Thankfully, he had left a message stating that he had decided to go looking for the Pneuma Flower to revive Sachi's familiar. Checking the time of the message, he realised only an hour had passed since the Black Swordsman had left.

"Well, better get to it," Masaya muttered, getting up and equipping his gear. "That guy said they'd be moving against Kirito and Silica today… so they're probably already tracking them. It's possible that the plans may change after he didn't come back, but he's not getting out of prison anytime soon…"

As he thought the matter over, Masaya pulled out a map of the floor that Kirito was going, named Floria.

"Guess the best place to start is…"

* * *

The trees of the forest of Floria waved softly, not giving away anything of the eleven players that were hiding near the bridge that led to Sky Garden.

Likewise, the leaves didn't even ruffle when one more player appeared and hid within one of the trees' peaks, though that may just have been because of his high Stealth skill.

Masaya looked down to where he had tracked the orange guild. He had to admit that while he mainly used stealth tactics when fighting, actually tracking targets was a pain in the ass for him. Luckily, it seemed the grunts he was looking for weren't particularly focused on hiding their movements, so he at least wasn't breaking his brain trying to follow footprints or something.

Gazing at the guild that was just below him, he really had to wonder the difference that levels made in this game. Just based on observation and the gear the players had, with the exception of Rosalia (whose name he had learned from Silica the night before), these guys were all green, and he wasn't referring to their cursors.

Finally, he focused on Rosalia. The woman was the definition of a femme fatale if he'd ever seen it, and the way she carried herself suggested a confidence in herself that, to him, was the peak of arrogance. She leaned against a tree as if she had no care to the world, which led Masaya to guess that she had a considerably high Stealth skill. But unfortunately for her, if someone had a high enough Detection skill, or a higher Stealth skill than her, they could easily see her.

Masaya breathed deeply. It wouldn't do to simply beat these guys to submission. Something had to be done to prevent them from thinking they were invulnerable. And with Kirito's help, Masaya was going to do just that.

Finally, as the sun was at its highest point, Kirito and Silica appeared, chatting amicably. Even from his distance, however, Masaya could see that Silica was a little tense, and every so often, she'd look all around her, as if trying to spot a hidden enemy.

Just as they were crossing the bridge that led to where the twelve players were hidden, Kirito suddenly grabbed Silica's shoulder and stopped her. A few words passed between them, then Silica stepped back, letting Kirito take the metaphorical floor.

"Whoever's hiding out there, come out!"

A beat, then Rosalia smirked and stepped out from behind the tree she had been leaning against. "Well, well… your Detection skill must be quite high if you were able to see me under my Hiding skill, swordsman." Her gaze shifted to Silica. "Oh, and of course, Silica. It seems you were successful in getting the Pneuma Flower. Congrats." Her voice suddenly grew sharp. "Now, hand it over."

A bead of sweat dropped down the side of Silica's head, but she stood her ground. "Not on your life, _Rosalia_."

"Might as well call her by her title," Kirito spoke up, "as the leader of the orange guild, Titan's Hand."

"Hoh? So you know who I am, then?" Rosalia mused.

"Yeah. You were planning to steal everything that the players that were with Silica had, weren't you?" Kirito asked, and his voice had a constant undertone of frost to it.

"Ah yes, I know those. I was planning to take care of them today, but when I heard you were coming to get such a rare item, I had to come here first." Her gaze flicked from Silica to Kirito. "But if you knew we were after her, why in the world did you stick around, kid? Did she really ensnare you?"

Silica saw red at the way she condescendingly said that, but Kirito placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from making any sudden movements.

"No. As a matter of fact, I was looking for you, Rosalia."

That was the cue.

Masaya looked down, then dropped from the branch he was crouching on, some metres behind one of Rosalia's accomplices. Tiptoeing his way up to the orange player, he struck forward with his left arm and wrapped it around his neck, covering his mouth at the same time. Before he could struggle too much, Masaya reached up and charged up a weak Martial Arts skill, specifically called Knockout Palm. Thrusting it against the man's neck, Masaya was pleased when the man stopped struggling and went limp. Carefully and silently, he dropped him to the ground, then moved on to the next orange player along the back of the crowd. The players had positioned themselves in a semi-circle of sorts around the bridge, so he started with the two near the middle, the ones farthest from the bridge itself.

By the time Kirito finished telling Rosalia about hunting her and her guild down, Masaya had already taken down the second to last of the group. The last one had a green crystal, so he couldn't use the Knockout Palm as effectively and consequence-free as they nine orange players, but he had an idea for that one.

"So on the words of a weasel that couldn't even die right, you decided to come get us? I really hate guys like you," Rosalia spat out. "There's no guarantee that dying here means you die IRL, and besides, you have more pressing matters."

She snapped her fingers… and a single player came out.

"What the…?" The redhead tried again, but the only thing she saw was the lone green player looking around in confusion. "Get out here, you idiots!"

"No one's coming to help you out, Rosalia."

With those calm words, Masaya stepped out of the tree just across from the one the green player was hiding behind, making him jump due to not even seeing him there. Over his shoulder was one of the orange players, who he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes now that he had no reason to hide.

"Truthfully, I was the one that was asked to find you," Masaya said, looking between the leader and remaining player of Titan's Hand. "But he didn't want me to kill you. No, he spent all the money he had on this." Masaya reached into a pouch on his hip and pulled out a large, blue crystal. "A corridor crystal. It leads to the Prison on the first floor… and we're sending you all there."

The green player, now seemingly panicking, suddenly ran towards Masaya, yelling out as he pulled out a hatchet.

"You idiot, wait!" Rosalia yelled, but he ignored her.

Smirking, Masaya watched as the man activated a green sword skill, which landed on his gut and passed right through him, leaving behind a deep red slash on his sternum. The man turned back, and the vicious smile on his face disappeared into a shocked expression when he saw that Masaya was still standing there as if nothing had happened, and if his health bar was telling him the truth, he had only knocked down two percent of his health.

Then with a little beep, that small amount was replenished, and at the same time, the cursor on the man's head became orange.

"Thank you for making this easier on me," Masaya said, then suddenly disappeared from his sight.

As the man looked around in shock, Masaya appeared behind him with a gust of wind, then slammed a Knockout Palm on his neck, sending him to the ground in a heap.

"And then there was one," Masaya quipped as he and Kirito faced down Rosalia.

"W-Well, you can't do anything to me!" Rosalia sputtered in a show of false bravado, waving her spear. "I'm a green player, and not that foolish! If you attack me, you'll become orange and-!"

Two gusts of wind ruffling her clothes stopped her in her tracks, and if that hadn't done it, then the crossed swords at her throat would have.

"Let's get one thing straight, you wannabe leader," Masaya began.

"The two of us are solo players," Kirito continued. "Playing as orange for a few hours or days isn't going to affect us any."

"So, in simpler terms, shut the fuck up," Masaya growled.

Thankfully, the redhead had enough sense to do just that.

* * *

Sometime later, when the sun was just setting, the trio was sitting in Silica's room, a slightly thick silence between them.

Kirito decided to break it. "I'm… sorry you had to see that, Silica."

Masako and Silica looked at the Black Swordsman, who was looking between his knees with a look of slight shame. A moment later, the twin-tailed Dragon Tamer shook her head, a smile on her lips. She could see where he was coming from, thinking that maybe him and Masako had seemed scary to her, and if they hadn't forewarned her, they might just have been. But the fact that they were doing good in this life or death game was enough to outbalance that for her.

"Don't even try to apologise, Kirito," Silica assured him. "In fact, I'm happy you and Masako told me of the danger of the orange guilds. I consider myself pretty strong, but there's no way I would've seen that and realised what was happening. I'm glad you two opened my eyes. And you're both really cool, and good people. I'm glad I got to know you."

Both boys smiled at her budding maturity, but the Silica continued in a more downtrodden tone. "But… do you really have to go?"

"Yeah." Masaya was the one who responded this time. "We've been away from the front lines for five days, considering we were shopping around for three of them before we met you. We need to go back."

Kirito nodded in tandem to Masako's response, and Silica's head lowered even more. A desperate thought passed through her head, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Can I come with you?"

The two males looked at her in askance, with Kirito letting out an eloquent, "What?"

"I said, c-can I come with you?" Silica asked, a little more meekly. "You two are in the front lines, trying to seriously beat this game, but me… I just let fame get to my head. I want to really make up for it, but alone, I could never get that high in level…"

"Levels are just numbers, you know," Kirito said, drawing her attention. "They might represent strength, but in the end, it's just an illusion. There are much more important things."

"Some people have said that Kirito and I, along with some others, are heartless, emotionless bastards for 'abandoning' other players," Masaya spoke up. "But that's not only untrue, it's impossible. No one can just kill their emotions; they're what drive us to either greatness or despair. Learning to control them is possible, but erasing them? Not a chance." He looked outside the window then, and both other players could see a shadow of what seemed to be pain cross his face. "I tried to do it, but in the end, I couldn't." When he looked back at them, however, there was a serene smile on his face. "But because of that failure, my life actually became better. And thanks to that, I opened up more, wanting to make more friends. Silica, you and Kirito are two people that I really want to meet in the real world. But to do that, we need to do our best to clear this game."

"Does that mean…?" Silica asked hopefully.

Masaya looked over at Kirito with a smile. "What do you think, Kirito?"

Kirito smiled and nodded, looking back at Silica. "If you really want to come with us, then I don't see why not. We do have space at home."

"Yay!" Silica cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

"Just keep in mind, you're going to be sharing a flat with one and a half guys now," Masako chuckled, ignoring Kirito's outraged 'Hey!' in the background. "You sure you're up for that?"

Silica suddenly seemed to realise that, looking at Masaya with a blush, then at Kirito, whereupon her blush doubled in size. In the end, however, she ducked her head and nodded.

"Alright then," Masaya smirked. "Then, before we head home, how about we revive Pina?"

"Yes!" Silica exclaimed, immediately opening up her menu and materialising Pina's Heart. Placing it on the table as Kirito and Masako watched from behind her, she materialised the Pneuma Flower and leaned it towards the glowing feather.

 _'_ _Pina… I can't wait to see you again. We'll talk for a long time… and I'll tell you about the wonderful time I had… and about the time I got my own two big brothers…'_

…

…

…


	6. Chapter 6

"So this is your house?" Silica asked, tilting her head to the side cutely as she beheld the one-story house on the treetops that was the Beaters' home. On her shoulder, her newly-revived dragon familiar… purred, oddly.

"A-yup," Masaya responded, opening the door. "Come on in."

As Kirito and Silica entered, the girl had to admit that the place was homely. A little lacking in details and personal effects, and even some furniture, but it felt lived in. There were a few books scattered here and there, and there were even a few pictures depicting what seemed to be warriors, though the caped girl that looked about her age that was wielding a scythe twice her size was a little ridiculous.

"So, let's see…" Masaya thought aloud, looking at the T-hallway that led to the rooms of the place. "The rooms to the right are mine and Kirito's, so you can have one of the ones to the left. There's only one bathroom, so make sure you let us know in some way that you're using it so we don't run into any potentially awkward situations."

"You sound like you have some experience in that field," Silica noted shrewdly.

Masaya's deadpan 'I do' made her break down into giggles.

* * *

Sometime later, as they were lounging in the living room and discussing how their living arrangements would work, Kirito suddenly jumped.

"What's up?" Masaya asked.

After checking the notification he had just gotten, Kirito smiled. "It's from Sachi. She asks how we're doing and if we can go visit." He looked over to Masaya. "It _has_ been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess," Masaya groaned as he leaned back on the love seat he was on. "I'd like to see how far they've come. And hey, we can introduce Silica to them!"

"I'm sorry, but who are you talking about?" Silica asked.

"A guild that we were with a while ago," Kirito answered as he switched his battle gear for more comfortable, lighter gear. As he stood and stretched, he continued. "We helped them level up as much as we could in the time we had, then allowed them to take the reins."

"You guys were in a guild?"

"Not in it," Masaya corrected her. "Just friends with them. We never did join."

"Why not?"

"To be honest," Kirito answered, "neither of us really want to join one. Masako and I are pretty well off on our own, and working in a guild… just seems like a lot of work."

Silica hummed as she thought about it, but in the end, she nodded. She could understand that train of thought.

"So, shall we go?" Kirito said, already heading out the door.

Masaya snickered as the two left behind followed after him. "You're just desperate to see your girlfriend, aren't you?"

Both Kirito and Silica spluttered after he said that, for similar reasons.

"S-She's not my girlfriend, Masako!"

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that," Masaya laughed as he jumped over the railing to the ground below.

* * *

"Ducker, could you get that?" Sachi called out from the kitchen as she heard the bell ring. The soup she had decided to cook up was at the point where she had to watch it. Though this was much more boring than real life cooking, Sachi still made use of her skills.

An exclamation of joy from the front of the house, however, made her concentration slip.

"Kirito! Masako! Man, it's been so long! And… who's this?"

After some light banter, the foursome made it inside, with the rest of the guild receiving them in the same manner. Just as Sachi was able to take her eyes away from the simmering pot, the very same person she had messaged no more than an hour ago appeared at the kitchen entrance.

"Hey, Sachi," Kirito said, a little sheepishly.

To his surprise, Sachi didn't respond. Instead, she stepped closer, a wooden ladle in her hand, and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Ki-ri-to…"

Kirito gulped.

"Do you know how long it's been since you passed by here?"

Smiling even more sheepishly, Kirito scratched his cheek and looked away. "Um… two or three weeks?"

" _Two_ months!" Sachi exclaimed, startling him.

"Wha- really?"

Sachi stared at him, one eyebrow raised, before she couldn't hold it in anymore and giggled, blocking her mouth with the wooden ladle in a move that looked absolutely _adorable_ to Kirito. Then, suddenly, she jumped forward and embraced Kirito, snuggling happily into his chest like a cat. "It's good to see you in person again."

With that, Kirito relaxed and hugged her back tightly, ruffling her hair with his nose. "Likewise, Sachi."

"Aww, isn't that just _adorable_? Jeez, I think I just got diabetes," a familiar voice chuckled behind him. "Oi, lovebirds, get a room, will ya?!"

"Piss off, Masako," Kirito said light-heartedly, his face still buried in Sachi's hair as he felt the girl tense. "It's been much longer than I thought since I last saw her. Nothing you say's going to make me let this woman go."

A deathly silence followed that sentence, and if he wasn't mistaking his body's sensors, Sachi's grip had just tightened even more. The silence was then shattered by five different catcalls, each one with varying levels of loudness.

"Well, sad as it is, I know one thing that may make her let go of you," Keita's voice sounded out.

"And that is?" Sasamaru asked.

"Food."

With that word, Sachi yelped and detached herself from Kirito, turning to the stove where she had left the pot on a timer. Thankfully, there was no change in it, and when she gave Keita a light glare for that, he simply smiled impishly.

* * *

Later, before they sat down to eat (Sachi making some extras for the three newcomers), the introductions were made.

"Everyone," Kirito spoke up as they stood in the living room of the first floor. "This is Silica. She's a Dragon Beast Tamer we met on the 35th floor, and she asked to join us. So we agreed to train her to help us out on the front lines. Silica, these are the members of the Moonlit Black Cats. From left to right, you've got Keita, the leader; Sasamaru and Tetsuo, two of the forward fighters; Ducker, a treasure hunter; and finally Sachi, also a forward fighter."

Everyone introduced themselves to the young beast tamer, and she responded in kind.

"You're a Dragon Beast Tamer?" Tetsuo asked excitedly. Looking around, he asked, "Where is it?"

Silica looked around herself. When she didn't see Pina, she placed two fingers in her mouth and gave a shrill whistle, nearly deafening Kirito, who was standing right beside her. With a cute, high-pitched roar, Pina flew in through one of the windows, settling himself on top of Silica's head.

"Oh… my… god… It's so cute!" Sachi exclaimed, rushing forward and reaching out to pet him. She stopped just shy of Pina's head, allowing him to sniff at her hand before bowing his head to let Sachi pet him. "Wow, he's really smart, too!"

"Yep!" Silica said proudly. "I met him on Floor 23. Fed him some peanuts I had bought, and he just got attached to me."

"Really? It was that simple?" Masaya asked, and by the expressions in the room, everyone else had the same question.

"Yeah. I don't really know how it happened, but he didn't attack me. When I saw that he was neutral about me, I thought about the peanuts and fed them to him, and voila, I became a dragon tamer."

"Huh… weird," Sasamaru spoke up. "I've heard of people trying to become beast tamers, but it's supposedly very difficult. You're quite lucky, Silica!"

"I definitely think so," Silica murmured, shooting a look at Kirito that everyone but, perhaps not so surprisingly, Sachi missed.

* * *

After lunch was over and everyone had rested, Kirito requested to see how everyone had been improving. They had all advanced several levels in the last five months, and the gap between them and the two Beaters was becoming shorter by the day. Silica herself was at about their levels, which led to Masaya thinking aloud that perhaps she could join the Black Cats, but she refused, saying that she had already decided to stay with the two Beaters.

"Wait, stay with them?" Sachi asked as they spectated Kirito sparring with Sasamaru in a Half-Health Duel.

"Yeah," Silica said, not particularly oblivious of where the short-haired girl was going. "I did ask them to train me to go to the front lines, and they agreed to let me live with them. I just have to be careful…" Her face took on a red hue, and Sachi needed no more explaining.

"It's tough being the only girl and living with only guys," Sachi smiled sympathetically. "But don't worry. Kirito and Masako are very gentlemanly. They'll make sure to respect your boundaries."

Silica smiled at the girl's advice, and with that lifeline now thrown, the two descended into what the rest of the guild considered 'girl talk'.

Only a minute later, Sasamaru's shield was sent flying off of his hand and against the fence surrounding the backyard of the house, with Kirito's sword finding itself at his throat afterwards. A moment later, a 'Winner!' sign appeared in front of Kirito, denoting his victory.

"Nicely done, Sasamaru," Kirito complimented him as he helped him up. "You've really learned how to make your sword skills and shielding flow in tandem. I'm proud of your progress."

Sasamaru grinned weakly and went to retrieve his shield as Ducker stepped up to the ring, facing Masaya. This was the last duel of the night, as Kirito had already fought Tetsuo and Sachi, and Masaya had duelled Keita.

"You ready for this, Ducky?" Masaya smirked, receiving the duel request from Ducker and accepting it.

"You know it, Masako," Ducker grinned, pulling out an odd, curved blade. The blade seemed to be of a standard, if slightly big, dagger, but the knife itself was twisted like a screwdriver.

"Oh. What's that blade?"

"A lucky drop we found when exploring the 37th floor," Ducker said, waving the knife around. "It's nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Masaya said, examining the way Ducker waved it about as the countdown to the beginning of the duel continued. "Seems pretty deadly."

"Oh, you'll see," Ducker smirked.

Finally, the countdown hit zero, and with that, both parties dashed towards each other. Masaya struck first, pulling out his chokutō in a reverse grip and slicing at Ducker's neck. Ducker followed his name and ducked expertly, landing on one hand in a push-up stance, then surprisingly twisted around as if he were breakdancing, catching Masaya off guard and tripping him.

As Masaya fell onto his back with an 'oomph', Ducker didn't waste his created opportunity and, after getting his feet under himself, jumped forward, stabbing forward and jabbing the knife right into Masaya's gut. Masaya jerked backwards, further against the ground, as the rest of Ducker's weight came down on him. With a strained grin, Masaya decided to emulate Ducker and placed his hands and feet in a standard bridge position, then pushed up, lifting Ducker with himself but having the unintended side effect of digging Ducker's knife deeper into him. Surprisingly for him, he could _feel_ the pain that the knife brought, as it was difficult for him to achieve the bridge position due to the clenching of his abdominal muscles. But Masaya pushed through it, pushing up with his feet up do a backwards flip and toss Ducker off of him, knife and all. The knife made an odd _squelch_ sound when it was extricated from Masaya.

As Ducker fell to the ground face-first some metres away, Masaya stood fully, then was forced to bend over as a shot of pain passed through his torso. Looking down, his eyes (and everyone else's) widened in shock when they saw that, instead of the usual red lines and polygons they saw when someone was hurt, Masaya quite literally had a bleeding _hole_ on his torso, whose flesh looked very realistic and deformed.

Quickly looking up at the corner of his sight, Masaya realised that his health was decreasing like crazy due to it, as the knife had left behind the appropriate Puncture health effect. However, unlike typical blades, which left flat stabs of cuts unless using a very specific sword skill, Ducker's knife left a large, gaping, twisting hole on his torso, which bled with thrice the rate of a standard puncture wound.

Thankfully, his Battle Healing ability helped mitigate the damage to his HP somewhat, but what drove them all to bewilderment was the fact that Masaya's _avatar_ was cut and bleeding as if it were his real life body, something that should've been impossible.

But, as if to tempt fate, a message appeared in front of each of the players in the courtyard.

It read simply: **"System Warning: Update Pending."**

Nobody could understand what that meant, and they had no chance to think about it. Blearily, Masaya was aware that each of his friends were falling to the ground, unconscious, and in a few moment, he succumbed to the sweet embrace of darkness, the last thing he saw being his slowly decreasing health bar on the corner of his sight.

* * *

When sight next came to Masaya, the first thing he was aware of was that someone was tightly gripping his shoulders.

Hard enough to hurt, actually.

The next sense to come back was hearing, whereupon he heard several panicked voices.

"Masako, wake up, man!"

"Come on, Masako, get up!"

"Easy, guys, easy. He just got healed; let it do its work."

Finally, sight came to him, whereupon he was able to see what was going on. Apparently, everyone else had woken up before him, though that may be attributed to the now-refilling health bar at the corner of his sight.

"Alright, whoever's holding me, let go!" Masaya called out in a hoarse voice.

Tetsuo immediately yelped and let go.

"Thank you," the brunet groaned, slowly sitting up. Feeling a soreness on his torso, he looked down to see that the hole that was previously on his body was now missing, replaced by untouched skin. His clothing was thankfully repaired too.

The mere fact that he had to think that, however, gave him pause.

"Okay, level with me here," he said aloud, spreading his hands and grabbing everyone's attention. "Was I or was I not bleeding like a spilled ketchup bottle when Ducker stabbed me?"

Everyone looked between each other in askance, then faced him and nodded simultaneously.

"You definitely were," Kirito said.

"Okay, just wanted to make sure I wasn't going mad," Masaya sighed. "Now, my question is… how?"

This brought along a few unintelligible mumbles. It seemed no one had any idea why that was happening.

That is, until everyone jerked in surprise as a screen appeared in front of each of them.

 ** _Attention, Players! It has now been a year since the debut of Sword Art Online. With this anniversary, the server has just applied a new patch, where a few bugs have been fixed and some new features have been added!_**

 ** _-Balancing the stats of several monster types. For more info, press_** ** _here_** ** _._**

 ** _-Adding new items and weapons._**

 ** _-Blueprints added – Throughout the world, enemies you kill may drop of a blueprint for a weapon. Gather the necessary materials to build it and take the blueprint and materials to a high-levelled blacksmith, and you will obtain a rare, legendary weapon!_**

 ** _-Extending/shortening dungeons._**

 ** _-Changing bosses and mini-bosses._**

 ** _-Adding new entertainment venues, such as bars, karaoke, and natural pools._**

 ** _-And finally, updating the engine to create more realistic conditions. These include, but are not limited to: bleeding, limb loss, clothing and weapon damage, body conditions (sickness, hypothermia, intoxication, exhaustion, etc.), decreasing the Pain Absorber from 10 to 5, and so on._**

 ** _Best of luck to all of you!_**

Everyone remained stock still as they began to comprehend just what had happened to Sword Art Online.

"Damnit, Kayaba," Masaya finally growled. "What the hell are you playing at?"

"It seems he's been a bit busy this past year," Kirito commented in a low tone. "He's really trying to sell the fact that this is an actual reality."

"Wait, so this means that when we get hurt…?" Silica began to ask, but never finished.

Keita nodded in response as he read over the list again. "Just like we saw with Masako, we'll show realistic damage, and our health will likely fall accordingly. If we get sliced by a monster, that place will bleed profusely, I bet."

Ducker's eyes widened as he looked down at the knife, then at Masaya. "Oh crap, Masako! I'm sorry, I didn't know!"

Masaya raised a hand. "Don't apologise, Ducker. None of us knew. I suppose they made us all black out so that they could finish applying the patch to everyone." Looking at the chest-high fence that enclosed the yard, Masaya ordered, "Everyone, we need to move. Let's check the town and some of the other floors if possible and see if everyone has woken up. If you see someone in danger, don't hesitate to help them out. We need to make sure that none of the other players suffered because of that blackout."

Everyone nodded and split, agreeing to check each of the major villages of the First Floor and check some of the higher floors if possible, while Masaya and Kirito took to the latest floors that were opened, to make sure that the clearers were alright.

* * *

It took several hours, but thankfully, it seemed that the application of the patch automatically transported all players to the nearest Safe Zone before knocking them out. Each of the Black Cats members mentioned this as they arrived at their house, with Kirito and Masaya reporting the same an hour later when they returned.

At the moment, they were all lounging in the living room of the house, exhausted by the constant back and forth they had been doing.

"Damn, they weren't kidding," Sasamaru groaned. "I feel like I'm about to drop dead."

There were some sounds of agreement all around, with the exception of Sachi, Silica, and Ducker, who had already fallen asleep.

"I think it's time we retire," Keita announced as he forced himself off the sofa, looking at the setting sun outside. "Kirito, think you could take Sachi up to her room? Upstairs, second to the left."

Kirito nodded and stood, moving over to Sachi and pulling her up into a bridal carry. As the snoozing girl snuggled against him, Kirito took the stairs slowly up to her room.

"Would she happen to have a second bed or futon?" Masaya asked, looking at Silica.

Noticing his look, Keita nodded. "There's a spare one we keep under her bed. You can put Silica there."

Masaya nodded and picked up Silica, noting how light she was. He went on to follow Kirito, hearing behind him Keita ask Tetsuo to help him carry Ducker.

As he toed open the ajar door of Sachi's room, Masaya smiled when he beheld the sight of Kirito standing over a sleeping Sachi, fondly rubbing her head.

"You're really attached to her, aren't you?" Masaya murmured as he pulled out the futon under the bed to the right of it.

Kirito only hummed in agreement.

"Make sure you never lose that bond with her, you know?" Masaya smiled at him after wrapping Silica up in a blanket. "When you have to protect someone… your will can drive you to do crazy things."

"You ever done something like that?" Kirito murmured to him as they exited the room, watching as Tetsuo and Keita brought Ducker to his room.

Masaya smiled, thinking back to the months before he had been captured by Kayaba along with nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine other players. "Yeah, once or twice. My life and that of my friends was a bit… complicated. One time, I got stabbed, actually near the same spot that Ducker stabbed me, protecting a close friend from her own mother."

Kirito looked at Masaya in astonishment, noting the faraway look in his eyes and the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Do you miss them?" the Black Swordsman asked.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss them, Kirito," Masaya responded. "As I know is the case with you."

Kirito stared at Masaya, but eventually nodded in agreement.

…

…

…


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, Masako, are we heading out again?" Kirito asked, looking up as Masaya stepped out of the hallway, battle gear fully on. Across from him, Silica looked up from the adventure novel she was reading.

"No, not this time. It's your turn to train Silica, remember?" At his reminded, Kirito nodded with a blank expression, as if he had forgotten that and had just been reminded. "Instead, I'm going out. I heard rumours of a sub-level dungeon that was discovered just a little while ago. And… three people have already died because of it. From what I hear, it locks a single player into the room and leaves them to face a monster that appears to be mini-boss level. So I'm going to check it out."

"You sure you won't need backup?" Silica asked.

"I'll be fine," Masaya responded with a thumbs-up. "Kirito and I are two of the strongest players in the game, and I'm sure we're the strongest _solo_ players. If this room chooses a single person to face it regardless of the group in it, then I think it'd be the best suited for us, no?"

Silica giggled at that. "Wow, and I thought I was the one that was high on my fame."

Masaya levelled a sceptic look at her. "Fame? Unless you've been living under a rock, Kirito and I have _infamy_."

"What's that?" Silica asked, tilting her head to the side cutely.

Masaya raised an eyebrow in askance, then palmed his fist. "Right, I tend to forget how old you are sometimes… Infamy is kind of the moral opposite of fame. Basically, it's being famous for being bad."

Silica 'oh'ed in understanding. "Does that mean that SAO is infamous?"

Both Kirito and Masaya drew back at that statement, then thought about it and smiled to each other. "Yeah," Kirito answered. "I'd say by now, it probably is."

"Well, I'll be off," Masaya called out as he headed to the door. "If you need me for anything, I'll be on the forty-ninth floor. Just wait around and I'll show up eventually."

"Don't you go dying on me, big brother," Kirito said faux-menacingly.

"Wouldn't even dream it, but I shoot the same demand back at you, younger brother," Masaya replied with an aristocratic flair.

A moment later, both young men chuckled, followed by a giggle from Silica as she witnessed the banter.

* * *

Teleporting to the 49th floor, Masaya had to marvel at the look of the urban setting. Myujen was a city in all but name, one could say, with mainly three-story buildings around a central square, where there resided a market. The place was lively with both players and NPC, and it brought a smile to Masaya's face that even after nearly a month from the update and a year from the start of this adventure, people were still able to live semi-normally.

Adaptability truly was one of the best attributes of human kind.

Shaking his head, Masaya headed to a specific alleyway, where he had set up a meeting with a trusted source.

Some would say… she was the rat in the walls.

"You're late, Ko-kun," Argo purred as he turned the corner into the alley.

"That's cause you have a much better work ethic than I do, Argo-chan," Masaya teased right back as he approached her, a cocky smirk on his face.

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean you can just keep me waiting," the whisker-faced informant pouted, walking up to him and standing less than an inch away from him. "Well? Why'd you call little old me here? Planning to finally take me?"

Having gotten used to flirty attempts like these from both Ayaka and Ruriko, the latter of whom was more direct with her 'flirting', Masaya's cocky smirk remained in place. In response, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him, actually drawing a cute yelp from her mouth and a blush to her face.

"Now, now, everything at its time, Argo-chan," Masaya growled good-naturedly. He passed her hooded, heavily-breathing face, and whispered into her ear. "For now, how about we talk a bit of business?"

And just as abruptly, he let her go, grabbed her hand, twirled her like a dancer, and released her, letting her get her balance back. To his amusement, Argo was staring at him with wide eyes, her face red like a tomato. A moment later, she grumbled and stomped her foot in annoyance. "Damnit, Ko-kun, how are you so good at this?! What kind of womanizer are you?! You look innocuous enough, but then you go and pull that out of nowhere and…!"

Masaya smiled and said in a teasing voice, "Aaaaaand…?"

Looking away for a moment, Argo grumbled and ended up simply saying, "Oh, nothing!" After Masaya laughed at her stubbornness, she sighed and turned business-like. "Alright then, you said you wanted some info on the sub-dungeon here?"

"You got it," Masaya nodded, also becoming serious.

"You know the price." Argo nodded as Masaya pulled up a window and traded her the necessary amount of Col. "Alright. Believe it or not, the place is reminiscent of a subway train system. It opens up at the outskirts of the city north of here, and it's one long tunnel that has some 'stops' that act as Safe Zones and ends at a large, circular room full of treasure. There's few places to hide in between the entrance and the room where the rumoured boss is. From what I've investigated, it seems that one player is chosen if a group enters, and a disembodied voice asks if they want to take the trial to gain the treasure. If the player accepts, all other players are either teleported or pushed out of the room, and a barricade falls at the entrance of the place, blocking off all access to the room. It seems it's also an anti-teleportation zone, so once you're in there, you're in for good."

Masaya made sure to memorize everything that the informant was telling him, then asked, "Any knowledge on the enemies?"

"Mostly mid-levelled goblins and bat-like creatures. Other than that, the major issue is numbers. They regenerate annoyingly quickly until you reach the boss area, whereupon they just stop appearing. They're also pretty high in numbers, so make sure you keep an eye out. That reason is why it's usually better to go in as a group."

"I suppose so, but I don't have that luxury," Masaya sighed, making to walk past Argo. "Thanks for the info, Argo-chan. And next time we meet…" He stopped next to her frozen form and said in a low voice, "Maybe we can see just how far we can stretch the Ethics Mode, eh?"

Leaving her a spluttering mess, which Masaya was proud to say he was one of the few that was able to achieve that, he jumped and landed right on the roof of one of the buildings. From his new vantage point, he surveyed the city, noticing several dots that he knew were other players with equal Agility levels. Looking up at the sun, he gauged where north was and headed in that direction.

* * *

"Well… this is ominous," Masaya commented to himself as he beheld the opening in the ground that seemed intent to swallow him whole. Argo was right; the way the entrance slanted down into the ground was very reminiscent of underground train stations that rose above ground for certain stops. If Argo was correct (and he doubted that she wasn't), this was the only entrance and exit of the sub-dungeon.

"… Best get to it."

With sure steps, Masaya walked into the tunnel, keeping a hand on the pommel of his sword the entire time.

As he descended further and further into darkness, Masaya's Night Vision ability kicked in automatically. As soon as he reached what he counted to be about a kilometre, a sudden screech made him stop and grip his sword pommel more tightly.

Focusing his sight so the system would show him things in greater detail (which, incidentally, was how the server was kept from overloading due to maintaining things in constant focus), Masaya looked from side to side, but was unable to see where the enemy was.

Another screech rang out, echoing throughout the cave, and with it, Argo's words came back to him.

 _'_ _Mostly mid-levelled goblins and bat-like creatures.'_

Eyes widening, Masaya immediately snapped his head up.

There, on the ceiling of the cavernous tunnel, were what Masaya could have sworn were hundreds of huge bats, all of their red eyes focused on him. Several had already detached from the rock and were speeding his way, making him jump back several metres, lest he be skewered by their unnaturally sharp claws.

"Huh, so we're dealing with bats, are we?" Masaya murmured as he focused on the enemies, which were now coming in swarms and surrounding him. Masaya slid his sword out an inch, not yet having activated a sword skill, and for some reason, felt a sense of déjà vu.

When a few of the bats flew out of the vortex of bats around him to attack him, Masaya realised why.

This was a tactic extremely similar to the one the Windwasps he hunted to increase his sword's sharpness used to attack.

And those, Masaya had plenty of experience fighting.

Ducking, Masaya avoided the first dash attack of about five different bats, and as soon as they all cleared from above him, he struck, the orange glow of his high-speed sword slash lighting up the cave momentarily before it was replaced by the multi-coloured glow of shattering enemies. The darkness had no chance to return, for at that moment, holding his sword in a reverse grip and placing it horizontally in front of him, Masaya activated a chargeable sword skill, meant for a powerful, tornado-like swing.

And the increasing glow of the blue sword skill served to illuminate the almost maniacal grin on the brunet's face, his face marred by a line of purple blood that the defeated bats had spurted out before disappearing.

Out of the hundreds of bats there, about a quarter rushed Masaya, intent on ending him. Masaya watched them, keeping a careful eye on both his charging skill and the oncoming enemies. When they were just in range, which was barely a metre from him, Masaya released the attack, twisting and letting the attack run its course, with the only change he needed to apply being tilting the blade up or down slightly to catch every enemy rushing him.

To an outside eye, Masaya was a blurred, blue, spinning top. Each enemy that approached him was immediately cut down, which led to a puddle of blood and constantly-shattering polygons to form around him. It took a full minute for him to stop, and by that point, the cloud of enemies around him had been significantly reduced. He shook off the minimal dizziness that came with that technique and this time, he dashed into the cloud itself, his blade now glowing red and calling for blood.

* * *

It took another few minutes, but with Masaya's speed, he was able to finish off the rest of the bats.

"Argo wasn't kidding about the numbers," Masaya sighed as he looked at himself. He had a few cuts and bruises around his body, mostly the former. Looking up at his health bar, he was glad to see that he was still at least at 90% health.

"Grinding may be a bitch, but the results do show," Masaya commented happily, moving on ahead.

* * *

The rest of his trip was somewhat lacklustre after that. The tunnel, by his count and Argo's account, had about five Safe Zones that looked like Victorian-Era train station stops, and in each one, he would sit and check his equipment, communications, and gains. The enemies were numerous, but so were the drops, and Masaya was finding that if this kept up, he wouldn't really regret not achieving the treasure at the end of this tunnel. The medium to high amount of Col these monsters dropped was very generous. He had already levelled up twice, and that was a great feeling to him.

Finally reaching the fifth Safe Zone, Masaya checked his map and made sure that he had investigated every nook and cranny in the place. As he relaxed on one of the stone benches in the 'station', he opened his inventory and pulled out a bottle of water, which were now sold in the general stores and markets. Unlike before, where there were only certain drinks available, the game's update had included new food types in the new items. These included bottled water, energy and sports drinks, and even legitimate alcoholic drinks, such as beer, wine, and rum. Masaya assumed the system recreated the effect based on the player's body type, and maybe also their stats. Someone with a high Strength stat likely wouldn't get as drunk on one mug of beer as someone with lower stats, which made being able to hold one's liquor something of an actual rite of passage for players now, as it meant that they were of a high enough level that their stats allowed them to not pass out.

This, unintentionally, came with a pretty good side effect to Masaya. In real life, he was a complete lightweight, unable to hold his liquor at all. He still grimaced in shame when he remembered the time he and his friends had gone to a festival in a nearby town.

At least Ayaka was deft enough to knock him one on his noggin before he could jump one of their bones.

But the NerveGear, surprisingly to him, didn't take this into account. When he thought about it in deeper context, he figured that the NerveGear intercepted electrical signals only from the body's nerves, and not the brain's. He wasn't completely sure of that theory, but it was the most he had. Because of it, no matter how much he drank in the new bars around the towns, he _never_ reached the same level of intoxication he would get with a hundredth of the same drink back in the real world. And though he was loath to admit it, Kayaba had done his research on alcohol intoxication, based on his own experience and on the experiences of his close friends, Klein and Agil in particular. He and Kirito, on Masaya's insistence, had met once or twice with either or both of them to have a drink, and though it was his first drink, to be sure, Kirito managed to hold up well enough. Klein was uncannily happy that alcohol was now in the game, but Agil had shrewd thoughts about it, thinking of many of the young players. Silica, in particular, came to Masaya's mind then, and he had made sure to stress to her both the idea and effects of alcohol. He wouldn't go so far as to outright prohibit it to her (he didn't think he could enforce it anyways), but he was able to at least make sure she understood what alcohol was and how it could affect her.

All of these thoughts passed through Masaya's head as he drank his bottle of water, sighing as the thirst in him was sated. Just as he placed the bottle in one of his cargo pants' pockets for easy reach, his menu dinged with the sound of a received message.

"Oh?" With deft fingers, Masaya opened his menu and accessed the communications tab, whereupon a message popped up from Kirito. He quickly read it through. "So he and Silica met up with Asuna for dinner, then? That's good. Haven't seen Asuna in a long time either, if you don't count boss raids… Maybe if I hurry, I can-."

Masaya's outspoken thought was interrupted when he heard a shrill sound come from further down the tunnel.

A scream. A human scream.

Gritting his teeth in concentration, Masaya closed his menu and bolted, triangulating the direction of the sound based on its echo. Any enemy that appeared in front of him, he killed swiftly, barely stopping.

"I'm not going to let anyone else die on my watch!" Masaya growled to himself.

In the back of his head, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had heard that voice before.

The scream sounded again, this time from his right, and when he stopped, the brunet became aware that there was a small cavern in that direction. He immediately ran in, processing the image presented to him.

In front of him was what appeared to be a platoon of goblins. They were short, stubby creatures with green skin and the usual red eyed of monsters of SAO. They wore nothing but loincloths, but what they lacked in clothing, they made up for in armaments, wielding powerful axes that made them dangerous to power-based players, as they could easily overwhelm them with numbers. Speed-based players like Asuna, and balanced fighters like himself, had more of a chance to fight them.

The goblins were marching directly towards a far figure in a white cloak, who had long, blonde hair, was wearing a white tunic that used a battle skirt, and had what appeared to be a circlet on, he assumed, her head.

Hey, he'd heard of and seen his fair share of guys in women's clothing. Assuming was just an automatic thing now.

Regardless, he could see her struggling valiantly against several goblins, but any possible advance was halted by other goblins coming up behind her and attempting to attack her, leaving her with no time to return fire. He could see as her cloak fluttered that she had a long but shallow cut on her back, and on the back of her right thigh, there was also a cut, but much deeper, hindering her movement.

"Hey, hang on!" Masaya called out, slicing three goblins apart with a single stroke and getting some of the mob's aggro.

Whether the woman heard him or not, he was unaware, because the goblins closest to him had decided to attack him at that very moment. It had the intended effect, however, of loosening up the area around the woman, letting her start to return strikes.

Together, the pair fought valiantly, but separately. Yet no matter how many they killed, the mob never seemed to end. As he sidestepped a goblin wielding a longsword and sliced its head off, Masaya looked around desperately, wondering where the hell they were spawning from, as he didn't see any lights indicating enemies being created.

As soon as he looked up, he spotted it.

On the ceiling were two holes, sticking out like hives from the rock. Every few seconds or so, they would open, and another goblin would fall out. The type of weapon they were wielding changed on each one, but there was a definite cycle.

"Up top!" Masaya called out, drawing the woman's attention. "Hold out for a few more seconds; I'll stop them from respawning!"

He didn't wait for her confirmation. Instead, he tried out an idea and jumped just as an axe-wielding goblin swung at his torso, completely avoiding the attack. Timing his attack carefully, he raised a leg and activated a Martial Arts skill, which made his raised right foot glow green. He then shot his leg through the air and landed it on the top of that goblin's head, reminiscent of the stomp move that a certain plumber of questionable ethnicity did on his stubby enemies, only with a single foot.

The goblin seemed to implode when the attack made forceful contact with its head, and it had Masaya's intended effect. As the skill finished its course, Masaya leaned his body forward, and the wind and repulse created from the force of the attack shot him towards the wall like a cannonball. As he flew forward, the brunet looked up and measured quickly the way the walls bent. The room they were in was shaped like something of a dome, which made Masaya's plan much easier.

As he landed near the wall, Masaya noted that he still had enough of the mob's aggro to make at least half of the goblins chase him to the wall. Crouching, Masaya didn't give them the chance to attack and immediately dashed for the wall, jumping when he was less than a metre away and using the momentum to run straight up the wall.

As he pushed his legs and agility to their limit, he stuck to the wall and ran up the dome angle that the wall made. Then, just as he reached the top, Masaya sheathed his Silent Death and focused. The world seemed to slow around him as his adrenaline pumped into him, and with the skill of someone who had mastered command of his body, he charged up two consecutive Martial Arts skills, Lightning Strike, and released them at just the right time.

The result being that as he passed the hive-like holes on the wall, a powerful tremor was caused by the attacks, making the openings crumble and fall. At the same time, the tremor continued into the hole itself, having an unintended reaction.

Masaya stopped his charge and let gravity take a hold of him again, falling to the floor and crushing one of the goblins under his feet as he fell. Looking up to check his handiwork, his eyes widened as he noticed that the cavern's roof seemed to tremble constantly, and in a moment, he spotted a few shadows coming from the holes.

"Crap, we have to move!" he yelled out at his temporary companion, deflecting an axe attack from one of the goblins around him and killing it and two of its friends in one fell swoop. "We need to get out of this room!"

The woman yelled out an affirmative and thrust what he now noticed was a somewhat elegant rapier at the goblin directly in front of her, impaling and destroying it. With that distraction, she turned, her hair swirling with the motion, and dashed with incredible speed towards the only entrance and exit to the cavern.

Masaya was about to follow, but at that moment, a strong tremor passed through the room, making him stumble in order to regain his footing. That cost him, as at that very moment, one of the goblins around him jabbed at him with a short sword, catching him right on the gut.

"Augh!" Masaya yelled out as he felt the pain from the stab shoot through his body. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself off of the blade, watching as the goblin was immediately crushed by one of the falling rocks. Holding his bleeding gut, Masaya bolted, focusing on the mane of blonde hair that had just gotten outside and was now waiting for him.

With a yell, Masaya pushed himself forward and ended up throwing himself out of the room just as the rest of the cavern caved in crushed the remaining enemies, leaving behind a mound of rubble blocking the entrance and a film of dust floating in the air.

Both parties coughed roughly as the area was filled with dust, with Masaya coughing a little more as the pain from the stab on his gut throbbed throughout his body.

"Are you alright?" a voice called out from behind him.

"I'll be fine," Masaya responded roughly, but not unkindly. "It's nothing new." With a practiced movement, Masaya pulled out a healing potion from a pocket just above the one where he kept his bottle of water and gulped it down in one go, then looked down and watched as the flesh stitched itself back together again and the bleeding stopped, an odd sight to him, as when his Battle Healing kicked in, it just disappeared. A small beep indicated that the health he had lost had begun regenerating, and with that, he relaxed. "Anyways, the better question is, are _you_ alr-?"

The question died in Masaya's throat as he beheld the face of the woman he had just helped. The feeling of familiarity came back to him now as he processed the long, blonde hair again; the perfect, white teeth; the cute button nose; and the sea green eyes; everything that appeared to him now was something he had seen several times before.

Likewise, the woman stopped short as she finally processed the face of the person that had come to her aid. It would be impossible for her to forget the limp brown hair, chocolate eyes, and tanned complexion of the young man… who had, once before, also saved her life.

"M-Marika-san?!"

"Masaya-kun?!"

…


	8. Chapter 8

"So… how'd you find yourself in Sword Art Online?"

Both parties, after overcoming the shock of seeing each other here, of all places, had decided to backtrack to the last Safe Zone in the dungeon in order to have some R&R. The entire way there, neither knew what to say to the other, as this was something neither party expected to happen.

Masaya's question to Marika had come just as the woman had finished taking a health potion for herself.

"Well…" Marika shifted in place, then looked at him. "It was a gift, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yes, from my grandmother. I had expressed to her once before summer that I wasn't sure what I wished to do for my vacation, but that I wanted to try out a few new things. I assume she saw the commercial for the limited release of Sword Art Online and decided to order one for me."

Masaya nodded and leaned back on the stone bench they were sitting on, sighing. This was quite the conundrum, but now that the shock factor was wearing out, all he felt was part happiness, part anger. Happiness at the fact that he had found a familiar face in this still-unfamiliar environment, and angry that one of his friends had been caught into the same trap.

"And you?" Marika asked him in return.

"I… I applied for the beta testing of SAO after I heard about it from an old friend," Masaya explained. "I was lucky enough to get it. Got pretty good at it, too."

"So I noticed," Marika giggled. "That was an amazingly reckless move you made, Masaya-kun."

"Hey, can you fault me? They were endlessly respawning! Something tells me that was specifically an Endless challenge meant for the original, non-deadly release of SAO."

Marika nodded and relaxed just as he had done. "Agreed. But now I must ask, Masaya-kun, what are you doing on this dungeon?"

"Can't you guess?"

Marika stared at him for a moment, then her eyes widened. "No! You can't mean you're planning to take on the boss at the end?"

"Got it in one," Masaya responded, standing and stretching. "I don't know what the hell it is, but what I do know is that it's taking advantage of the lower levelled players that are in guilds and murdering them. And I'm putting a stop to it."

"You can't!" Marika said, jumping to her feet and grabbing his arm. "Everyone who has taken on that boss has died, and no one has been able to determine what it even is!"

Masaya half-turned to her, giving her a smile. "Marika-san, don't you know? I'm a Beater. This is my kind of challenge."

"A Beater?" Marika asked, raising an eyebrow. "But the only two Beaters I know are…" Masaya smiled as her eyes widened. "T-Then, you're… Kirito?"

"Yeah, I- Wait, what? No!" Masaya laughed uproariously at Marika's confused expression. "I'm the other one, Masako."

"Masako… Oh, that makes more sense," Marika thought aloud. "A simple rearrangement of syllables?"

"You got it," Masaya nodded. "Never been especially inventive. That reminds me, though, what's your player name?"

"Erm, Fleur."

Masaya looked at her for a moment, making her squirm in embarrassment, then nodded thoughtfully. "Not bad, I suppose. Better than mine, at least. Fleur is connected to you and also sounds more foreign."

Marika sighed, thankful that he didn't think her an idiot or unoriginal for it.

"Well, nothing will be gained from standing around here. Want to come along? Or do you have a party to get back to?" Masaya asked her.

"Um, no. I think I will stay with you, if you don't mind."

Masaya smiled at her, making her blush. "Of course I don't mind. Are you a solo player, then?"

"Yes. I have been since the game began."

"Huh… I'm surprised we didn't meet sooner."

* * *

"I guess this is it," Masaya murmured as they approached what appeared to be a large downslide. Angling themselves carefully, both players made their way down to the awaiting boss room, which differed greatly from the rest of the floor.

For one, the room was actual metal, and it gleamed despite the fact that neither could see a light source. Secondly, it seemed like a small room, all things considered. The area near the walls was dark to the point of being impossible to see, but from what they _could_ see, it was just a room for what seemed like a king, with the gilded throne being preceded by a long, red carpet. The epitome of a cliché throne room.

As they stepped forward, Masaya and Marika kept a tight hold on their weapons, ready to pull them at a moment's notice. The room was innocuous enough, if a dark, but as soon as they placed foot on the red carpet, their sense of hearing was blindsided.

 **"** **Halt!"** A voice suddenly rang out, sounding like what Masaya might guess Zeus would sound like and reverberating all around them. **"Dost thou wish to lay claim to the vast treasures in this room?!"**

Looking at each other, the pair realised that this was the point where the quest would begin. Marika was still extremely apprehensive for Masaya's sake, but the young man gave her a stern look that told her that he was definitely doing this.

Stepping forward, Masaya yelled back, "I do!"

A ding rang out, and with it, a powerful wind began to blow, making Marika's clothes flutter wildly. She barely noticed that Masaya remained unaffected, and that told her that the quest had just begun.

"Masaya-kun! You had best come back to me alive, do you hear me?!"

That was the last thing Masaya heard before Marika was forcefully blown out of the room. But even though she couldn't see him, he nodded.

 **"** **Very well,"** the voice said, now calmer. **"I see that thou art serious about thy ideals. But if thou wishes to lay claim to the treasures here, thou must first prove that thou art pure in thy thoughts and thy actions!"**

Staring up at the ceiling of the place, Masaya yelled out in frustration, "And how the hell do you plan for me to do that?!"

No sooner had he spoken that Masaya heard what sounded like a slug moving. Looking down, he spotted a puddle of silver forming at the seat of the throne in the room. After a moment of shaking and wobbling, the puddle soon began to expand, taking shape.

First it grew legs, which extended down and touched the ground.

Then came arms, which placed themselves on the armrests of the throne.

And finally, a head.

Once the body was complete, the details began to set in. Hair appeared, limp and falling around the head and to the nape of the neck. Boots appeared, into which were tucked cargo pants. Fingerless gloves appeared on the hands, and a shirt materialised.

And all the while, Masaya's eyes grew wider and wider.

Finally, as a sleeveless trench coat formed, and with its arrival, colour set into the figure.

Brown hair. Tanned skin. Black camo pants, gloves, and boots. A wine red shirt. And a light grey coat.

"W-What… is this…?" Masaya whispered, taking a step back.

Then, the thing _moved_.

Its fingers tightened against the armrests, and its head lifted.

And unlike Masaya's chocolate brown eyes, this copy's eyes were a deep red.

 **"** **It is time for thee to face the darkness that lives within thy soul."**

The Copy Masaya suddenly stood, its coat fluttering with the movement. As Masaya began to come down from his shock, he placed a hand on his sword and, by honed instinct, drew it not a moment too soon.

There was a flash of sparks as two Silent Death blades met at the centre of the throne room.

Now that they were facing each other, Masaya could see the details in the fake Masaya's face. And they were uncannily like the ones he saw in the mirror every morning.

Then, to further his shock, the damn thing _spoke_.

"Hello… Masaya."

Despite the astonishment coursing through his brain, Masaya didn't let his concentration falter, which allowed him to spot a little detail. This Masaya's voice had a metallic undertone to it.

Then, having had enough of staring at his own, demented face, Masaya forcefully pushed forward, making fake Masaya slide back a metre.

As the dust settled, both partied stood there, examining each other. One with bewilderment at what had developed, and the other with a grin that screamed, paradoxically, 'controlled insanity'.

Focusing on his enemy, Masaya scanned him to see if any info came up. And above his head, some titbits popped up.

 **Masako**

 **Level 75**

"I see… so this is my dark side, is it?" Masaya spoke, gazing at Masako.

"Are you ready to die, trash?" Masako said, still grinning.

Masaya raised an eyebrow at the words. He was pretty sure he didn't sound like that.

Then, without warning, Masako dashed towards Masaya, sword swinging, and Masaya was forced to defend himself against an onslaught of attacks.

To his surprise, though, no matter what Masako did, he never activated a sword skill. Sure, he swung his sword with intent to maim, but his sword never glowed.

And to further his shock, neither could he. The moment he tried to activate a sword skill, he paused fruitlessly as he waited for something that never came, costing him precious seconds which left him open for an attack.

After a few clashes, both parties separated forcefully once again, though this time, Masaya stayed on the defensive. Masako dashed in again, swinging at his torso, and Masaya twirled, moving around the attack and this time retaliating with his own. The attack was deflected by Masako's blade, so Masaya twisted the blade into a forward grip and swung down at Masako's head. The copy tossed himself to the side, flipping once then dashing back at Masaya, who deflected the three swings thrown at him with practiced precision.

"How does it feel, huh?" Masako suddenly asked.

Grunting after deflecting a particularly vicious jab, Masaya responded, "How does what feel?"

"To be so lowly that you need the charity from your 'friends' to survive?"

That sentence stopped Masaya cold, and Masako took the chance to jab at his torso. Masaya was able to react in time to just barely deflect it, though it left a shallow cut on his left shoulder.

"What… what did you say?" Masaya asked in a hollow voice.

"You heard me," Masako crowed. "How does it feel to be below everyone around you? To be so low?" As Masako's attacks continued against Masaya, so did his verbal insults. "You're vermin. A stain on Vincennes, not because you're male, but because you're worthless."

Masaya grit his teeth as the double assault continued. He kept denying Masako's words, forcing himself to remain focused… and yet, there was a small part of him that simply kept whispering to him.

Telling him that Masako was right.

Telling him that what he said was nothing but the truth.

A moment later, Masako's eyes widened when, as he slashed at Masaya with a horizontal slash meant for his throat, Masaya suddenly leaned back, avoiding it completely. As Masako's blade passed through empty air, he looked down only for his chin to be met by Masaya's boot as the original used his lean to jump into a backflip, kicking Masako into the air and away from him.

Masako let out an 'oomph' as he fell onto his back. As he struggled to get up, he heard the unmistakeable sound of a blade cutting through the air and rolled to the left, avoiding the stab that Masaya had sent at him. He stood quickly, looking towards where the original brunet was staring back at him, standing completely straight.

"You think I don't know that?" Masaya whispered at Masako, catching the AI off guard. The next moment, the copy found himself having to defend against the furious onslaught from the original, and yet, no matter how powerfully Masaya attacked, his face never changed from the blank look that he had when he had first talked. "You think I don't think those very same thoughts every day? Knowing that I was a stain upon Vincennes when I began there, and at times, I still am?"

Masako grunted in pain as Masaya's sword suddenly blurred forward and dug itself into his right shoulder, cutting off all movement to that limb. His sword would have fallen to the ground had he not reached out with his left and snatched it before it completely fell. He stumbled back, trying to get some distance, but before he had a full chance, Masaya's blade was on him again, stabbing deep into his left knee, which this time made him yell out in pain and fall completely onto his ass.

As he lay there, panting, he opened his eyes only to come face-to-eye with the point of a sword.

"I know perfectly well what I am…" Masaya continued in the same empty tone of voice. "That is why I'm grateful every single day for the friendship and support my friends give me. Rise-san, always being there for me since the beginning, supporting me when I thought no one else would, and keeping me company in the way she knew best. Chiho, helping me when I was alone in my childhood, and just like Rise-san, being there for me when she finally understood my situation, no matter what came my way. Ruriko-san, Ayaka-san, Ritsuko-chan, Konomi-chan, and now Mitsuki-san and…" The original brunet glanced towards the door leading out of the room, and Masako could see a smile come to the original's face. "And Marika-san… They have all accepted me as I am, and I as they are. They are my friends, partners, and people I would give my life for." Masaya turned back to his copy, and this time, Masako could see a powerful, determined look in his eyes. "And that is why I will not die. I won't let myself fall prey to this world. I have too much to return to, and I won't disappoint them!"

And with that, Masaya drew back and dug his chokutō right into Masako's heart. The copy gasped as the blade cut deeply into him, and in a few moments, blood began to seep out of the cut and onto the red shirt, deepening the colour.

As Masaya watched Masako bleed out, the faces of his friends and his mother flashed through his head.

Yes… he did this for them.

"Well… done…" Masako whispered, blood seeping from the sides of his mouth. "You have… truly accepted… your dark side… you are… worthy…"

And with those words, Masako fell back, his eyes blank, and shattered into pieces.

Masaya stood there, looking at the multi-coloured polygons as they shrunk and floated away in the air. He hardly noticed when the gate to the room had re-opened, leading to him being blindsided by a body with a mop of blonde hair.

"Masaya-kun! Oh, thank goodness you're alive!" Marika cried, her body pressed to Masaya's back. Turning slightly, Masaya could see that the emotions system of the game had easily recreated the look of a river of tears falling from her eyes.

With a calm smile, he pulled her arms from around his torso, turned around, and hugged her back fiercely. In the end, he was glad that she was there with him. It helped stave off the dark thoughts that plagued his mind.

"Don't worry, Marika-san," Masaya whispered into her hair, laying a single kiss on her brow. "I won't die… not now, and not anytime soon."

Marika sobbed as she buried her face deeper into his chest, her body shaking. The whole time she had been standing outside, she couldn't hear a single sound of what had been happening in here, and when the door had suddenly opened, her nerves had been frayed to the point of near-insanity. When she had seen Masaya standing there, unmoving, and the shattered polygons flying through the air, the relief that had overtaken her had been overwhelming.

A moment later, however, a booming voice interrupted their shared moment.

 **"** **Very well, young player! Thou hast proven thyself worthy! Thou hast come to beat and accept your faults and troubles! Thou art worthy… of the treasure herein. Take it, and make of it what you will."**

And with that, the light in the room became brighter, no longer giving the place a foreboding appearance, and both Masaya and Marika were left gaping at the amount of riches in the room. From piles of gold to jewels to even weapons, the three walls were packed.

"Whoa… Guess I'm rich now…" Masaya muttered, looking around. Glancing back at the red-eyed girl in front of him, he smiled and continued, "But that can wait. Hugging you feels really nice, did you know that?"

Marika's eyes widened, but a moment later, she closed her eyes and giggled, wrapping her arms around his midsection once again. "You are so strange, Masaya-kun."

"So I've been told," Masaya sighed, hugging her back.

As they stood there, holding each other, Masaya and Marika began to think, unknowingly at the same time, about the events that led them to this point. Marika's thoughts, having been frazzled by the scenes she had imagined of Masaya's death, were all over the place, but she was able to centre them to one main cause: the crush she still had on the brunet holding her, which she had left Vincennes with, had made her almost go mad with worry. But even now… she couldn't say it. She still had doubts that she was unworthy to try and go for his affections, considering what she had done to him in their time together at the former girls-exclusive school.

What she didn't know was that Masaya was thinking along the same lines, thinking of the times he and Marika had had back at the school. It was an odd feeling, because they could have been counted on two hands, but each time, Masaya felt both happiness and an odd sense of worry. He didn't know how he could feel it, but in retrospect, he thought that Marika was always holding _something_ back. It was almost like she wanted to say or express something, yet she told herself not to. He had seen it a few times in the girls, but each one of them had eventually come clean to him about themselves (and he had responded in kind), including with their thoughts about him. He wasn't particularly surprised about the fact that Rise, Chiho, Ruriko, Tamie, and Ayaka were attracted to him. In the end, he was one of the few guys of the same age range as them that they had interacted with, and they were pretty much together all the time. The fact that Chiho was into him since primary course was a bit of a shock, but it wore off quickly enough, Finding out that Ritsuko, Mitsuki, and even Konomi also thought that positively about him was a little surprising. But out of all of them, the one that interested him most was Marika. Not only because of her personality, or her body, but because with the exception of the time they had almost kissed after they had left the clock tower the night she almost committed suicide, she had always seemed conflicted to him. If she wasn't into him, he wasn't going to be sad (god knows he had enough to deal with when it came to the rest of the girls), but he wanted her to be more open to him, to trust him as he trusted her. He didn't want a barrier to be between them like this.

That's why, when he looked down at her, he was unsurprised when he saw, once again, the pensive expression on her face.

"Col for your thoughts?" Masaya asked, breaking her from her stupor.

The woman gazed into his eyes for a few moments, but then, as she had before, she turned away, focusing on a wall. "It's nothing."

Masaya's smile slipped a little, but he soldiered on. "Marika-san… do you remember the day that you and I became friends?"

Marika looked back at him, confused. "You mean on the first day of classes?"

"No, I don't," Masaya shook his head. "Think."

Marika looked down, thinking it over, then her eyes lit up as she understood his question. "The bell tower…"

"Exactly. When Rise-san, Mitsuki-san, and I went up there, we were entirely focused on helping you, and nothing more. But while we were up there, talking, there was something that Mitsuki-san said that I believe I should say now, to you."

Marika gazed at him, wondering where he was going with this.

"Don't bottle yourself up, Marika-san," Masaya said, his smile sweet to her. "Please, whatever is worrying you, I want to help. You and I are friends, and though our closeness was questionable sometimes, I wanted you to trust me as I do you. So please… talk to me. Don't shut me out… If not now, I understand, but I want to help you, even if it takes a lifetime."

Marika's eyes glazed over with tears as the system showed the best definition of what she was currently feeling: confliction over how she should feel. Masaya's words had a strong impact of her, which seemed to be something of a trend between them, but her shame and unworthy feeling were still there. Masaya's words, however, made her think of the time she had been standing at the precipice of death, at the very edge of the bell tower, and Mitsuki's words rang in her mind.

So with those thoughts, she asked a single question.

"Masaya-kun… what do you think about me?"

That question caught Masaya off guard. "I'm sorry?"

"What are your thoughts about me?" she repeated.

Masaya stared into her eyes, thinking over his answer before responding. "Well… purely physically, I think that you're beautiful. Your hair, face, and body have to be a gift from God, and I don't even believe in him." His sudden compliment made her blush hotly, but she stood her ground, wanting to hear him through. "Other than that… you're interesting, Marika-san. I'm not sure how to put it in words, but I know that I like you, at the very least. Considering where we are, I could say, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would put my life on every line so long as I could see you smile."

Those words finally broke her, making her blush triple in size. The system recreated this by making steam come out of her ears.

But with that, her decision was cemented. She knew what she would do.

This feeling of hers was something that involved someone else. They were trapped in a game that wanted to kill them at nearly every corner… and she didn't want to have any regrets. So Marika chose to let Masaya take the reins.

If he didn't want to be with her, as much as it would hurt her, she'd accept it. She couldn't possibly blame him for it.

But if he wanted to be with her… she'd be the happiest woman in Aincrad.

"Then… Masaya-kun… do you know my feelings for you?"

Marika continued staring into his eyes, watching as they stared back at her. They weren't exactly blank; in fact, they hadn't changed. She wasn't sure if he was processing the information, or if SAO's system simply didn't process any change in his emotions. A moment later, the latter was found to be reason when he sighed and nodded.

"I had an idea, yes."

"Y-You did?!" Marika asked, legitimately shocked. She thought she had kept that a very well-kept secret!

Masaya raised an eyebrow and smiled wryly. "Um, Marika-san, you do realise you and I nearly made out in front of the Final Course dormitory after what happened at the bell tower, right?"

Marika blinked in shock. That event had actually passed completely over her head when she thought about it.

"So… you knew this entire time… and you said nothing?" Marika asked, some hurt coming to her tone.

"I won't lie, yes, I did. However, my reason was two-fold," Masaya stressed, asking her wordlessly to hear him out. "First, you weren't the first or only one to come out with such feelings, though you were certainly the one that was most direct with them, even if unconsciously. I'm sure you knew that nearly our entire group had some kind of crush on me, and Rise-san, Chiho, Ruriko-san, and Ayaka-san were the most obvious about it. I'll be honest: during the entire last year, I wasn't actually looking to have a relationship. I had too much to focus on at the time to be able to fully give myself to someone. So instead, I decided to mainly wait for one of you to say something. I didn't want to take charge because I didn't want to hurt any of you. But my second reason…" Masaya sighed and looked at her with sad eyes. "My second reason was because I was waiting for a right time to confront you. I could see it in your eyes and posture, Marika-san. You were purposefully holding yourself back, and I had no idea why. The problem was that I didn't know _how_ to come to terms with you about it. I didn't know when would be a right time, or how I should ask. And I certainly didn't expect to get caught in this godforsaken game. But during my year here, I had already come to a decision. I knew and had come to understand all of my friends… with the exception of you. So I would talk to you as soon as I got out of here. I couldn't continue to watch in the side-lines as you beat yourself up every time we met. The moment just seemed to come much faster than I had expected."

Marika could only stare at him in amazement. This young man was much more perceptive than she gave him credit for.

"Is it what I think it is?" Masaya asked softly. Marika looked down at the ground, nodding her head slowly. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes as she remembered the horrible act she did to try and get him out of Vincennes. And yet, Masaya wouldn't have it. He reached up and placed his hand at her chin, lifting her head so he could look into her watery eyes. "Then, even if I have to say it again, I want you to believe that I am one hundred percent sure of it. Myougi Marika, I completely forgive you for falsely accusing me of raping you."

Marika's eyes widened as she felt the sincerity in his voice, and yet, she couldn't help but ask, "B-but how? Why? Why would you forgive me?"

Masaya's smile became wider. "Because, after what I saw on that bell tower, I can fully believe that you knew it was wrong. I know that you had complete trust in your grandmother, which is why you did it. But you also believed it was erroneous. You just didn't have the courage to act on that. And that's why I tried my best to give it to you."

"So… so you…"

"Yes, Marika-san. I completely forgive you. It's water under the bridge. It's in the past. I want us to live in the present, and if my thoughts on that situation are weighing you down…" He pulled her towards him, drawing a gasp from her as he hugged her firmly, and her chin became nestled on his shoulder. "Then please, think on it no more."

He couldn't see her face, but if he had, he'd have seen Marika's face split into a wide smile, the system exaggerating the expression slightly. He did feel when she dug her face into his shoulder and sighed contently, though. "Thank you, Masaya-kun…" she whispered. "You're right… the memory of what I did eats away at me every day, every time I think of you. But if you hold no grudge… perhaps I can start moving on."

Masaya smiled. "That's what I hoped to hear."

Both of them drew back, but neither could bring themselves to break their hold on each other. Marika's facial expression suddenly became bashful as she looked away. "Um… Masaya-kun, about what I asked earlier…"

"About your feelings?" Marika nodded, a thankfully much lighter blush now on her face. Masaya smiled at her demeanour. "Well, that question involves you as much as me. What do you feel, Marika-san?"

"I…" Marika's throat constricted slightly, but this time, looking into Masaya's expectant eyes, she had the strength to soldier on. "I love you, Masaya-kun. I can safely and confidently say that I am in love with you."

Masaya's eyes softened as his smile widened.

"Do… do you feel the same?"

In answer, Masaya moved the hand that was previously holding her chin to her cheek, then leaned forward slowly, watching as Marika's eyes widened and her breath quickened. Then, in a moment, he captured her lips in his, placing all the feelings that had passed through his mind as he was fighting with Masako through them.

Marika's mind went blank as she realised just what Masaya was doing. His lips were on hers, and just that mere touch was making her mind go on overdrive. She could barely hear the slight alarm that the Ethics Mode sent to her, but she ignored it as she wrapped her arms around Masaya's neck and pulled, drawing him closer and deepening the kiss between them.

This was something she had only dreamed about in lonely nights, and now, in one of the most unlikely places, it had become a reality.

The pair remained intertwined for nearly a minute, canoodling like they may not have another chance. Their hands roamed, their bodies heaved as their breathing became laboured, and soon, they surfaced, both cursing the game for recreating the feeling of lack of air so well.

"Marika-san… if you'll have me, I'll be honoured to be your boyfriend," Masaya said with a smirk.

Marika couldn't help it. Her emotions had been on a constant flux ever since she had seen Masaya again, and with his words and actions now, she simply couldn't contain it. She laughed out loud, her bright peals of joy ringing off the walls. Masaya soon found the sound contagious and laughed along with her, the pair hanging on to each other as they fully came to process the ridiculousness of everything that had happened in the last few minutes.

Then, as the ringing laughter began to echo away, Masaya looked around, finding himself once again in awe of all of the treasure that was around them.

"So… want to help me buy a house?"

* * *

"We've just become an item, and you've already asked me to move in with you? My, my, Masaya-kun, you're quite bold," Marika teased the brunet as they walked out of the now-drained throne room, which they were sure would not refill.

"Well, what can I say? I have been known to be progressive," Masaya responded in kind, waggling his eyebrows.

"Is that so? I suppose you will just have to show me, no?" Marika shot at him.

"Oh, don't worry," Masaya said in a purr, drawing closer and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As Marika's face reddened from the closeness, Masaya leaned over and whispered into her ear, "I'll show you all you want to see when the time is right."

He was forced to move back a bit, lest he be hit in the face by the steam erupting from Marika's ear.

* * *

Surprisingly, the trip back was extremely quiet. There were no enemies to speak of around them, and nothing in particular happened until the last leg of their journey.

As they were approaching the mouth of the tunnel, what sounded like an explosion grabbed their attention, the main reason being that it sounded like it came from behind them. As they turned, they became aware of a strong tremor that made them lose their balance momentarily, but their eyes then beheld a larger threat.

That being the fact that the tunnel was collapsing right behind them – and at a pretty rapid pace.

"Shit, move!" Masaya yelled, grabbing Marika's hand and pulling her forward. She quickly got her feet on the ground, and together, they raced the collapsing tunnel to the exit, which was thankfully only a few metres away.

As they practically jumped out of the tunnel, they were barely aware of the sound of collapsing rock as the entrance was completely demolished in an explosion of dust.

"Marika-san, are you alright?" Masaya asked between coughs.

"Yes, I'm fine," she assured him, breathing heavily.

As they watched the dust settle and got their breathing under control, both had the same thought.

 _'_ _Damn… there goes a good grinding spot.'_

* * *

Sometime later, the pair found themselves approaching the treehouse that Masaya and Kirito, and now Silica, called home.

"Keep in mind, neither of these guys know my actual name, so just call me Masako, alright?" Masaya stressed.

Marika nodded. "Same to you. Remember, it's Fleur."

Masaya nodded in return and opened the door, stepping into the room.

To his surprise, there were more people than he expected in there.

The first surprise he had was when he saw the short, hime-cut hair of Sachi laying on the shoulder of Kirito, who was sitting next to her on a love seat. Silica was currently on a beanbag to their left.

The next was when he recognised the auburn hair and eyes of Asuna sitting across from them.

And finally, the tense air in the room made him equally as tense.

The entire group turned to the source of the sound of an opening door, and everyone's eyes lit up when they spotted the second Beater.

"Masako! About time you got back! I was thinking I might have to go find you," Kirito spoke up with a smirk.

"Nah, not a chance," Masaya responded. When he turned to Asuna, he was met with a simple smile, but it was one he recognised as being quite reserved. "Ah, so the magnificent sub-commander of the Knights has decided to grace us with her presence?"

Asuna's smile became strained upon Masaya mentioning that. That is, until he approached her and pulled her into a simple hug, which made her yelp in surprise.

"It's good to see you, Asuna," Masaya chuckled, letting her go.

Asuna stared at him, but then giggled and sat back down. "Likewise."

"And Sachi, always a pleasure, though I wasn't expecting you," Masaya said to the final visitor. "Then again, I would have expected you more than Asuna."

"Yes, I can bet. Hello, Masako," Sachi waved.

"Silica!" Masaya suddenly exclaimed. "Which is the sword skill that is meant for a useful, straight-shot attack?!"

"L-Linear, sir!" the poor girl squawked out in a terrified tone, which was followed by her familiar releasing a genuine squawk.

Masaya's face broke into a smirk. "Nice to see you've been paying attention. And it's good to see you again." Silica relaxed, and Masaya continued, "Actually, I have someone to introduce."

Marika came in at that point, making everyone's eyes shift to her.

"Everyone, this is Fleur. Let's just say she and I know each other in the real world and found each other by coincidence at the dungeon I went to."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Marika said, bowing deeply.

"Same. My name's Kirito," the Black Swordsman said, standing up and awkwardly bowing as well.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Silica!" the Dragon Tamer exclaimed, jumping up and rushing over to shake her hand excitedly, which left Marika a little flustered. "Oh, and this is my dragon familiar, Pina!" Said dragon swooped down and floated in front of her face, which made her stare at it. After a moment, it made a 'prrup' noise and flew around her for a moment before settling on her head, wrapping itself just right inside the circlet on her head, which made Marika giggle.

Both Sachi and Asuna stood and bowed in a manner similar to Marika's, making Kirito and Masaya simultaneously wonder if they were well-off girls, or just raised to be very polite to strangers (both knew well how rough Asuna's personality could be).

"It is nice to meet you, Fleur-san," Sachi said.

"It is indeed a pleasure," Asuna said.

"Now, now, please, you do not need to bow to me. I'm actually not very fond of such gestures," Marika assured them.

"Oh, no wonder you're so into me," Masaya chuckled.

Fleur yelped, looking a little mortified, while everyone else shot Masaya bewildered looks.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Fleur here…" The brunet approached the blonde and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him and making her blush. "… is also my girlfriend."

Everyone stared at them in shock, then Kirito laughed uproariously, making everyone turn to him. When he got it under control, he said, between chuckles, "I'm sorry, but I just find it funny how he went out this morning to fight a boss that was killing people and comes back nearly at sundown with a girlfriend, who just so happens to be someone he knows in the real world."

Sachi and Silica couldn't help but giggle at that, while Asuna shot Masaya and Marika an odd look but was also smirking.

"So the great and powerful Masako is taken, huh? Oh, how many hearts will break out in Aincrad," Asuna joked.

"Oh, please," Masaya laughed.

"Actually, she's right," Silica spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "While I was going around some groups as 'Dragon Tamer Silica', I met a few of the other girls in the game. Most of them, when I asked their opinion, had major crushes on both of the 'infamous Beaters of Aincrad'."

The males in the room stared at her in bewilderment at that little titbit, then glanced at each other.

"Who knew? Chicks do dig the bad boys," Masaya joked, which made everyone in the room begin to laugh.

As the laughter died down, however, Fleur spoke up. "Now that I think about it, when Masako-kun and I came in, you all looked very serious about something."

That made the mood change drastically, with Kirito, Sachi, and Asuna frowning intensely.

"Sit down, guys. We have a little story to tell you," Kirito waved at the only seat open, a single-seat plush chair next to the loveseat he and Sachi were sitting at. Masaya went ahead and sat, with Marika, to his surprise, becoming quite bold and sitting right on his lap, crossing her legs and leaning backwards as if this was nothing new. Everyone gave them odd looks, but accepted it with a unanimous shrug.

* * *

"So you're telling me someone died _in a Safe Zone_?" Masaya repeated, just to be clear.

"Yeah. We talked to the girl who was partners with the guy, named Yolko. We're going to meet again tomorrow to go see the last person we can talk about this to, a guy named Schmitt."

Masaya's eyes narrowed as he thought about the situation. No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem to make any sense. With a sigh, he leaned back into the seat's backrest, Marika shifting a little as she leaned back on his chest. "Well, I'll keep an ear open when I go out tomorrow. Other than that, I can't think of anything right now. Too tired."

Kirito nodded, stretching as he yawned. "Likewise. Today's been a long day for all of us, I think."

"Which reminds me, you never told us what you did today, Masako," Sachi spoke up, her head currently using Kirito's lap as a pillow.

Masaya noted that Asuna was sending the girl some dirty looks because of that.

"Oh yeah, the sub-dungeon."

* * *

After telling them the tale, everyone was in awe. Masaya hadn't gone into detail about what his shade had said to him, but the mere thought of fighting your dark side was something that none of them could imagine.

That raised questions about themselves that they weren't sure they wanted to answer.

"Wait a second, you said that the room was full of treasure," Silica suddenly said. "Does that mean…?"

Masaya nodded, opening his menu and making it publicly visible. With a swipe of his fingers, he twisted the page around in an orbit, making it face everyone else, whose eyes bugged out when they saw the amount of money on there.

The boys had nearly become billionaires.

Kirito was speechless, wondering just what they were going to do with so much money.

Asuna was mostly speechless because of the luck that Masaya had in finding this place.

"You said the tunnel destroyed itself, right?" Sachi spoke up.

"Yeah, it collapsed as we were going out and nearly crushed us. I highly doubt it's accessible anymore."

The two girls that didn't live with them couldn't help but groan in disappointment at that.

"Well, it's been an eventful day, but I want to sleep. I can barely keep my eyes open," Masaya said, looking at Marika. To his surprise, the girl had apparently nodded off without him noticing, her body using his as a pillow and her head leaning on the backrest. "I guess so does Fleur."

"The room across from Silica's is still open," Kirito said.

Masaya nodded and stood slowly, picking up Marika into a bridal carry. He took a step forward, then suddenly stopped, his facial expression becoming thoughtful.

"What's up?" Silica asked him.

"Nothing, just… had a sense of déjà vu," Masaya responded, shaking his head.

Kirito looked down with a smile at the somewhat clueless girl laying her head on his lap. "Yeah, except that this time you're the one that has to carry his girlfriend to her room."

Sachi yelped and blushed hotly as both Asuna and Silica narrowed their eyes at the pair. Masaya, meanwhile, was attempting to keep his laughter reined in so as not to wake Marika. In the end, he responded with, "Oh? So you finally confessed to her?"

That made Kirito pause and realise what he had just said, leaving him just as mortified as Sachi currently was.

* * *

The next day, Marika slowly woke up, shifting on the bed she was laying on. As per habit, she sat up and stretched, whereupon she noticed that her shoulders felt a little heavier than usual. Looking at herself, she realised that she was still wearing her day clothes, and when she looked around, the room she was in was unfamiliar to her.

Before she could start to wonder where she was, there was a knock at the door, and Masaya's voice filtered through it. "Hey, Fleur, are you awake yet?"

Checking herself to make sure that she was _fully_ clothed, she called out an affirmative.

With that cue, Masaya stepped inside, already in his usual outfit. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you as well," Marika responded with a smile.

"Breakfast is on the table, but I wanted to talk to you first," Masaya said, closing the door and walking over to her. He sat at the edge of the bed, Marika's eyes following him. "Mostly… it's about our new relationship. I wanted to make sure that you were still, you know… into it. I mean, yesterday was full of emotions, and that can skew people's view on everything and I wanted to-,"

Masaya's words were cut off when Marika wrapped her arms around his torso from behind, laying her chin on his shoulder. With a sigh, she said, "I understand why you're worried, Masaya-kun, but please believe me. Just as you were honest with me, I was honest with you about my feelings. They have been with me for nearly a year, and they aren't going to change anytime soon."

Masaya relaxed in her embrace, leaning back and moving his face closer to her cheek. "You're right… I'm sorry, I was being stupid."

"Don't be, Masaya-kun. Stupid, I mean."

"Hey!"

They stared at each other for a moment, then fell back on the bed together, laughing.

"Well, come on, breakfast is ready," Masaya said, sitting up and looking at his stretching girlfriend. As they began to move off the bed, he smirked and struck out with his hand, slapping her on her right butt cheek, which made her yelp and jump in surprise. "Come on, get that sweet ass in gear, honey!"

Marika stared in bewilderment at Masaya as the brunet walked out of the room with a confidence she hadn't seen in him before. Not for the first time since they had reunited, Marika had to wonder how much Masaya had changed not just since the game started, but since they had last seen each other in the first place.

* * *

As Sachi and Asuna had gone home last night, today's breakfast consisted of Masaya, Kirito, Silica, and now Marika. It was a simple bacon-and-egg ordeal, but during it, Kirito and Silica asked Marika all about herself.

Marika had begun the game just as Masako had begun the beta test, without any idea how to play, and she didn't have beta experience to help her. So she decided that, instead of going out to the fields to fight by wildly swinging a cheap sword, she'd study up on the techniques of the game. She had been reading a book on some of the sword skills in the Starting City square when everyone had been transported there and Akihiko Kayaba had made his announcement.

She had despaired at first when she understood that she was now trapped in the game, and she felt terrible for her grandmother, who was likely desolate by the problem that a gift had become. But when she was about to give up, she remembered what had happened with Masaya at the bell tower, and his words gave her strength. Like he had hoped back then, he had lit a fire in her, giving her strength when she thought she had none. And she had gone into battle with those thoughts, aiming to become strong enough to return to her family and friends safe and sound.

Because of that, though, she soon found that she didn't want to become part of a guild. She liked being around others, but every time she approached someone, they treated her with reverence, as though there was something about her that they needed to kiss up to. She wasn't sure if it was due to how her personality was or about her looks, or perhaps it was due to her being one of the few legitimate female players around, but regardless, she had grown tired of people trying to 'get in her good books' and decided to stick to being a solo player, only occasionally partnering up with another player or two to get through a particularly troublesome dungeon area.

She had heard about the sub-dungeon, coincidentally, from Argo as well. The informant was one of the few people Marika was in good standing with, as they thought similarly yet had much different personalities. That was why she had been in the dungeon at the time that Masaya had gone.

Thinking back on the boss fights he and Kirito had attended, Masaya could now barely remember seeing a blonde figure fighting alongside the main group. As the Beaters had usually been set to be the clean-up crew, he hardly paid attention to the individual players.

"Man, I still can't believe we didn't see each other sooner. This place is bigger than I thought," Masaya sighed, putting down his recently drained cup.

"I feel the same. But I am not complaining, as we have gotten together now," Marika responded.

"In more ways than one, eh?" Kirito spoke up, waggling his eyebrows.

Both Marika and Silica choked on their juice, while Masaya laughed.

"I think it's time we get going," Kirito said, waiting until Silica got herself back in order before standing up and equipping his coat. "We'll be seeing you two later."

"Bye, guys!" Silica exclaimed as she followed Kirito, Pina soaring around the girl.

"Say hi to Asuna for me!" Masaya yelled. "Oh, and your girlfriend too!"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

After laughing at their typical banter, Masaya stood and picked up the plates, bringing them to the kitchen. When he came back, Marika was sitting on the same love seat they had been on the night before, looking through some of the books they had.

"Hey, Marika-san, are you still up to go buy a house?" Masaya asked.

"Wait, you were serious about that?" Marika asked, looking up at him.

"Of course! I like this place, don't get me wrong. But… I've heard good things about a certain floor and its housing opportunities."

* * *

The pair met up with Argo once again at the city of Myujen.

The hooded girl was surprised when she saw two of her best customers approach her together. The pair were conversing as easily as if they had known each other for some time already (and they had, unknowingly to her).

"Well, well, look at you, Ko-kun," the girl laughed when they were close enough. "You womanizer!"

Masaya smirked wryly at that, while Marika tilted her head in curiosity at the words. Turning to Masaya, she asked, "Womanizer?"

Masaya smiled at her. "Argo-chan and I here had a habit of trying to out-flirt each other since we met. She started it, though. She just didn't expect me to retaliate so well." To Argo, he said, "You shouldn't be talking, you flirt."

"Hey! You know I only do that to my 'special' customers!" she replied.

"Like Kirito and I? Oh yeah, totally. You just want a harem for yourself, don't you?"

"Well, if _you're_ in it, I wouldn't mind," Argo purred, coming up to him and sliding a finger down his chest.

"A-hem!" Marika coughed loudly, gaining their attention. "Argo, if you would kindly _not_ flirt with my boyfriend, I would wholeheartedly appreciate it."

"B-boyfriend?!" Argo spluttered, looking between the annoyed Marika and the sheepish Masaya. She decided to focus on the latter. "But I thought-."

"It only happened yesterday," Masaya cut her off gently. "Remember the sub-dungeon I went to?"

"Yeah. If I remember right, you went there too, Fleury," Argo said, pointing at the blonde, who nodded in confirmation.

"Well, take a seat," Masaya waved his hand over the bench she had been sitting on earlier. "We've got a story to tell you."

* * *

"Wow… that's a hell of a tale," Argo breathed once they finished telling her of what had happened at the sub-dungeon. "I'll go check the site myself to see if it's completely closed off. If it is, though… that's a waste."

Both Masaya and Marika agreed.

"What's also a waste is that you're off the market, Ko-kun," Argo pouted, leaning against him. She shot Marika a look. "Any chance I can take him for a ride before you hog him?"

Marika's deadpan 'no' nearly made Masaya pass out in laughter.

* * *

"Well, this is the place!" the hooded informant exclaimed when they reached the house.

The trio were on the 22nd floor, where there was an area around a large lake that held some of the most beautiful houses on all of the currently-discovered Aincrad. As such, though, these were quite expensive to buy.

For Masaya, that had become a non-issue.

"Nice place," Masaya whistled as he beheld the area. The wooden house was a one floor, multiple-roomed place that was situated just a kilometre from the lake nearby. That lake was one of the places on the map that had been changed by the update not too long ago, and on the very middle of it was an island that, as far as he was aware, nobody had gotten to yet.

"Yep! It's got about seven rooms, two bathrooms, one hell of a living room, and a pretty good kitchen," Argo listed off. "The view in the mornings and evenings is amazing, I hear. And during the night, the sky here looks beautiful!"

"You sound like quite the real estate employee, Argo," Marika giggled.

"Hey, an informant's gotta have a few aces," Argo responded cheekily. "So, what'll it be?"

"We'll take it," Masaya responded easily, approaching the house. A hologram appeared at his waist-level, showing a large circle with a hand print. A prompt asked, **"Will you purchase this house?"**

Masaya pressed his hand to the prompt, whereupon both holograms disappeared and a key materialized in front of his face, floating idly. Masaya reached up and grabbed it, and as if reacting to it, there was a wave-like motion in the air around the house, as though a shield had just disappeared.

"Nice, Ko-kun," Argo said, stepping up to stand next to him. "Want to break it in?"

"Argo!"

"I kid, I kid," Argo chuckled, waving her hand at Marika's outraged expression. "Besides, that's going to be _your_ thing now, isn't it, Fleury?"

Marika's red face doubled when she thought of what the informant just said.

"Have fun, lovebirds, and don't make too much noise!" Argo exclaimed, skipping away towards the forest path nearby. Marika stared at her until she disappeared between the trees, then turned back to Masaya, shaking her head exasperatedly.

"That woman…" Marika's words stopped upon noticing Masaya's narrowed eyes, which were pointed in the direction of Argo's retreat. "What is it, Masaya-kun?"

Masaya sighed sadly. "Argo. Her demeanour was too… happy just now. It's off."

Marika looked back to where Argo had disappeared. Now that she thought about it, Masaya was right. She had been a little _too_ happy at that point.

* * *

Unknown to them both, the hooded girl had stopped just a few metres after disappearing from their sight to sit by a tree's roots, pulling her knees up to her chest. Wrapping her arms around them, she stared straight ahead at the shifting sunlight and leaves.

"Damnit…" she muttered, feeling tears start to fall from her cheeks. "Why… why did I have to hesitate in telling him…?"

The young woman remained there, sobbing lowly between the large tree's roots, until she felt she could no more. Then, she stood and walked purposefully to the teleport gate of Floor 22.

* * *

"Alright, I sent Kirito the directions," Masaya sighed as he sat next to Marika on a love seat in the living room, which was indeed quite large. "They should be coming soon."

Marika nodded, relaxing against him. The place, after having explored it, was very nice. It was more than enough for the four of them, and gave them options to invite their friends over for nights, such as Asuna or the Black Cats.

"So…" Masaya murmured, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and smirking. " _Do_ you want to break in your or my room?"

Marika let out an 'eep' sound, but after a moment, she murmured back, "Are you saying we're going to have separate rooms?"

"O-ho-ho," Masaya laughed. "How bold of you, Marika-san."

"Says the man that asks for sex within a day of starting our relationship," Marika fired back.

"Our relationship may have started yesterday, but…" Masaya moved closer to her, lightly biting her ear, which made her moan lightly. "Our sexual tension reached a high point long ago."

Marika whimpered as he continued his ministrations on her ear and lobe, then gasped when he suddenly stopped and stood, walking languidly to the kitchen. "You're right, though," he shot over his shoulder. "It's a bit too early for that step."

Marika stared, gobsmacked, at the brunet as he disappeared into the kitchen. Then, unwittingly, her lips let out a whimper of dissatisfaction.

* * *

The next morning, a very tired Kirito and Silica knocked on the door of their new house, with the former carrying another on his back.

Masaya opened the door, his eyebrows rising as he processed the image presented to him. Silica was leaning against a droopy Kirito, her eyelids fighting bravely to stay open, while Kirito was similarly leaning against her, with a pair of legs in white stockings sticking out from under his arms.

"The rooms farthest to the left and across from each other are Fleur's and mine," he said promptly. "Pick whichever other you want."

The pair nodded and walked inside the house, with Masaya's head tilting to the side upon realising the thing on Kirito's back was a very-much-asleep Asuna.

"What happened to you guys?" he asked, closing the door.

"Tell you tomorrow… too tired…" Kirito muttered back, yawning.

The trio turned the corner and disappeared, with Masaya hearing one door slam, then another a few moments later, and a final one mere moments after the second. Shaking his head in exasperated amusement, he headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

* * *

"And that's the end of it," Kirito sighed, putting down the cup of juice he had been sipping on for the last few minutes. Across from him, on a sofa, were Masaya and Marika, who had been waiting for the young man to awaken so he could explain what had brought him, Silica, and Asuna to the house, dead tired and at dawn. The raven-haired Beater had woken a few hours after arriving, just as the sun was beginning to set.

"I suppose Grimlock got his just desserts then," Masaya said.

"Yeah. Too good for him, I say," Kirito mumbled.

"No argument here," Masaya shrugged.

"So what helped Cainz and Yolko fake their deaths was a glitch?" Marika asked.

"Yeah. It's a glitch that's hardly known, so it stands to reason that people would believe he died for real," Kirito confirmed.

"So much trouble to catch a murderer... In SAO, things can get really complicated if the one you're chasing is smart," Masaya sighed.

The other two nodded in response.

"Well, enough of that," the brunet said, jumping to his feet. "I feel like going out and fighting some monsters. Would you like to come along, Fleur?"

"Sure," the blonde in question responded happily.

"Kirito, I assume you want to rest a little more?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," Kirito responded after a yawn, already stretching out on the sofa he had been sitting on. "This house is great, by the way. Remind me to thank Argo for finding it for us."

"I'll make sure to let her know," Masaya replied with a chuckle, walking to the door.

…

…

…


	9. Chapter 9

"I don't get why we're coming here," Marika asked, looking all around the city that they had visited on the 50th floor.

"I need to visit someone," Masaya responded simply.

Marika raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Masaya smirked, turning a corner into an alleyway. "You'll see."

Finally, Masaya stopped just in front of a merchant store, where they had arrived just in time to witness a person be thrown out with extreme prejudice.

"And stay out!" a rough voice exclaimed from inside. The player picked himself up, grumbling darkly, and stomped away, leaving the doorway free for Masaya and Marika to step inside.

"I see that your methods haven't changed much," Masaya said good-humouredly to the back of a person, who was bent over behind the counter.

"Masako? Is that you, man?" the person behind the counter said, standing up straight and turning around. The person was a dark-skinned, bald man with a goatee, who had a large and powerful build. However, Masako, Kirito, and anyone else that got to know the man would know he wouldn't hurt a fly… unless it bit him.

"Yeah. How's it going, Agil?" Masaya responded as he walked into the man's shop, with Marika trailing right behind him (read, hiding behind him). Not that it did her any good.

"Hey, you have an extra shadow there?" Agil chuckled, giving the blonde girl an easy smile.

Marika yelped, hiding behind Masaya even further. Her makeshift barrier chuckled alongside the dark man.

"Fleur, come on," Masaya said, grabbing her arm and lightly pulling her to his side, where she squirmed. "He doesn't bite, trust me."

"And who's this?" Agil asked Masaya.

"This is Fleur," Masaya introduced. "Fleur, this is Agil, a good friend of mine and a merchant."

"Salutations," Marika greeted him properly, bowing.

"Pleasure to meet you," Agil responded, bowing in response, though his was a little awkward.

"Alright, pleasantries aside," Masaya spoke up, "I came here for a reason, Agil. Any word on what I asked you?"

Agil immediately became serious as well. "Yeah, I have the info. The quest you're looking for is on the 55th floor. It's in the rocky, mountainous region to the north of the village the teleport gate leaves you at. Talk to the village leader and tell him you're there to hunt down his village's problem. Once you start the quest, you'll be locked into it until you're done, so you better prepare."

"I'll make sure," Masaya nodded, opening up his menu.

"Can I ask why you're asking this of _me_ and not, say, Argo?" Agil asked as he accepted the trade of Col that Masaya had initiated.

The brunet sighed at the question. "I _would_ ask her, but… I haven't heard from her in the last week, and she's not answering my messages. I was thinking that after I finish this quest, I'd go track her down and see what's going on."

"Oh, you as well?" Marika suddenly spoke up, grabbing both Masaya's and Agil's attention. "I have tried to message her, but she hasn't answered me either."

Masaya's brows contracted. "That's pretty worrying… But one thing at a time. Thanks for the info, Agil. See you around."

"Same, Masako. Take care out there," Agil responded, raising a hand. "Oh, and are we still on for next week at Yusuke's?"

"You know it!"

When they were outside, Marika finally asked, "Masaya-kun, what quest are you planning to do?"

Masaya looked at her and smiled. "A very special one. You're aware of how I typically fight, right?"

"Yes, you're an extremely agile fighter," Marika responded as they walked back to the teleport gate. "You also use stealth and indirect tactics when battling."

"That's all true, but there one more part that you're forgetting."

* * *

 _'_ _Will you accept this quest?'_

Masaya easily pressed the acceptance button, whereupon there was a flash of light all around the area he was standing at. He and Marika were currently at one of the rocky mountain peaks that Agil had spoken to him about, an area surrounded with rocks, some strange purple crystals, rocks, some pitfalls, and, oh look, more rocks. The quest he was accepting had popped up only a few days ago, and the NPC that gave the quest always explained what the player would fight before asking. For this reason, only one person had accepted it, and he had ended up dead because he believed himself strong enough to take on the enemy that he had little intel on.

Masaya had taken all the steps necessary. He had asked Agil to get as much information on the floor and village he would be visiting, and while his friend did that, he bought several books in one of the bookstores that had appeared on the 22nd floor, thankfully not too far from their house. It held just enough information for him to understand the type of monster he was fighting.

"So… what do we do now?" Marika asked, looking all around the rocky peak.

"Now, we wait," Masaya stated. "If I remember right, the monster we're hunting appears at certain points during the day, and only at the very peak of the mountain. Well, we're here."

"If you don't mind me asking, Masaya-kun, what monster _are_ we looking for?" Marika asked, drawing her rapier and holding it loosely.

"I never told you?" When Marika shook her head, Masaya sighed. "Well, it's-."

An extremely powerful roar cut off their talk, drawing their attention to one of the pitfalls around the area. A glow could be seen coming from one of the inside of it, and a moment later, a figure that seemed larger than both players flew out at such a fast speed that Marika could hardly follow it. The figure seemed to fly around the area momentarily before angling towards the ground swiftly and slamming against the earth. Masaya and Marika crossed their arms in front of their faces out of reflex due to the dust that was kicked up, and when it settled and they could see again, the blonde woman was left gaping at the enemy that was glaring at them.

It had a long, serpentine body, with large, white scales that reflected the scant light the sun gave off from between the clouds above. It had four powerful limbs which ended in long claws. Its face was elongated, its jaw powerful, and its eyes large and imposing. And though it had no wings, the pair of players knew just what it was.

"It's… a dragon…" Marika whispered.

"Yep," Masaya responded. "One of several powerful dragon kin, according to a mythology book back at home. This one is known as the Gyo, a type of mountain dragon from Korean mythology. It's been terrorizing the village we just came from, and it's up to us to take it down."

"But… how? It looks strong enough to crush us!" Marika exclaimed, stepping back just as the dragon took a step forward.

"I'm going to fight it. I need you to stand back, Marika-san," Masaya stated, stepping forward and keeping his gaze locked onto the dragon's own.

"Are you crazy?!" Marika exclaimed, jumping forward and grabbing his arm. She flinched as the dragon growled and tensed, but didn't release Masaya. "You plan to fight this thing alone?!"

"Well, yes," Masaya responded, giving her a side look. "I have the means to fight it, and I'm doing so for a reason. Now step back."

She glared at Masaya, hoping to make him back down by her gaze alone, but the brunet didn't waver. Instead, he shook off her hand and continued to walk towards the dragon, which focused on him. She stared at his retreating back, waiting for him to draw his blade, but to her surprise, he never did.

The dragon suddenly raised its snout up to the skies and roared, whereupon three health bars appeared around its head. Just above it, a name appeared.

 **The Rock Mountain Dragon**

 **Level 82**

"They're on equal levels," Marika whispered, looking between the dragon and her boyfriend with apprehension.

The adversaries stared at each other.

Then, just behind them, there was the sound of a rock falling to the ground.

As if that had been the sound of a starting gun, the dragon rushed towards Masaya, its speed unbefitting of its size. Before Marika could even grasp fully how fast it moved, it had already approached Masaya, who had yet to move from his spot.

The dragon lunged, aiming to crush the foolish player, but its charge met only air as Masaya ducked rapidly, allowing the dragon's head to pass just above his body. When half its body had passed above him, Masaya's foot glowed red as he activated a Martial Arts skill.

There was a resounding **boom** as he twisted around and shot said foot upwards, where it impacted right against the dragon's stomach. Dust flew into the air as the shockwave of the attack blasted outward. The dragon roared in pain as it was sent flying, but it righted itself quickly in the air and glared down at Masaya, a foot-shaped red mark on its abdomen.

Marika stared blearily at the young man, only now remembering the fact that he had Martial Arts skills. _'One of these days_ ', she thought, _'I need to ask him how he got them.'_

Masaya returned to a standing position, staring right back up at the dragon, which roared and once again charged at him. As the creature approached, Masaya could see that out of its three health bars, the first had been reduced by a tenth.

"Good thing, too," Masaya murmured to himself, "Because that was one of my most powerful skills. I might need to use it often."

Then, the dragon was upon him, and he had no more time for reflection.

This time, instead of charging head-on, the dragon decided to swipe at him with the claws of its right hand. Masaya tensed, scanning the attack quickly, then jumped, managing to clear the attack just right. When he landed, he was forced to duck once again, as it had quickly turned and attempted the attack again, with its left hand this time. As it flew by him, it kicked out its left foot, catching Masaya by surprise and walloping him directly on the chest.

The brunet righted himself in mid-air, landing onto a slide on his feet and crouching to lay his hand on the ground and slow down his slide. He clutched his chest with his other hand, feeling a throb of pain shoot from it to the rest of his body. Vaguely, he wondered if his actual body had jolted due to that impact.

Standing straight and forcefully ignoring the pain for now, he faced the creature as it once again approached. When it tried its slash attack once again, he jumped just above it, but this time, he reached down and grabbed onto the hand, digging his fingers into its rocky skin and nearly snapping his arm out of its socket when he was dragged along with it. The dragon roared and flew upwards, shaking its hand to try and throw him off, but it wasn't until he saw it shake its arm up that he let go, using the momentum to fly up to its snout. As he approached, he clenched his fist, which glowed a green colour, and shot it forward, landing it right on the dragon's eye and sending it flying back with a pained roar. He quickly righted himself in mid-air once more and landed in a crouch on the rocky ground, taking an odd martial arts pose as the dragon crashed to the ground a few metres away.

From her position, Marika studied her boyfriend. She had been surprised when he grabbed onto the creature's claw and was taken along for the ride, and even more so when he punched it hard enough to send it flying. She could see that he was now fully serious, as his gaze was unwaveringly focused on his enemy. His right hand was near his waist, clenched into a fist, while his left was at chest level, with the palm open and, to Marika, ready to deflect any blow that would come his way.

The dragon shuffled momentarily before flipping around to its feet, gazing at Masaya with hatred. Instead of charging one more time, it instead began to stalk around him, watching him carefully. Masaya stared right back, his body tense and waiting.

As it reached a nine o'clock position to him, the dragon galloped towards him, seemingly attempting to run him over. But instead of rushing him, it stopped a few metres away and turned, sending its tail flying at Masaya. The young man watched the attack carefully and just barely twisted his right hand, which glowed blue this time. As the rocky tail approached, he punched out, and both attacks met, creating a shockwave as their forces cancelled each other out.

Pulling his arm back, Masaya immediately jumped and flipped forward, charging a skill through his right foot that he released as an axe kick, striking the dragon's tail directly and making it crash to the ground. This, however, left him vulnerable in mid-air, and while he was able to damage the creature, it returned the favour by slashing at him with its left hand, sending him flying to the ground with three long cuts on his chest.

"Masaya-kun!" Marika exclaimed, running towards her downed boyfriend. Kneeling by him, she fished out a health potion from a pouch on her waist, but stopped when she saw him hold up a hand. With a low beep, the scratches closed up, stopping the bleeding, though the wounds remained there, and when she looked at his health, she could see that it had recovered somewhat.

"Don't waste that health potion," he advised, standing up. "It's getting harder to get good ones the higher we go in Aincrad. My Battle Healing skill will be enough for now."

The blonde watched as he dashed towards the dragon again, frustration building in her bosom.

Masaya bent low as he ran towards his enemy, who roared and met his charge head-on. The dragon opened its jaws, ready to gobble the young man up, but he dodged it via sliding right underneath, attacking the dragon with the same red Martial Arts skill he had used when he first attacked, which forcefully closed its jaw. Quickly standing up, he pulled his left fist back and punched it on what he guessed was its chest, making it double over, then pulled his right fist back and attacked it with an uppercut once again on its lower jaw. The dragon dodged it by shoving its head to the side, then attacked Masaya with a right slash, which he dodged by leaning back, getting just out of range. As he straightened up, he was forced to jump forward as the dragon put its frontal hands together and attempted to crush him, landing on his hands and pushing himself upwards, assaulting it with a barrage of kicks on its sternum before he was forced to push off its body and roll to a stop a few metres away.

Looking up, he realised with a grin that its first health bar was now gone.

As he prepared himself to assault it once again, however, both he and the dragon were startled when a cry of anger came from Masaya's left. There was an almost blinding rush of light, then the sound of metal crashing against rock.

Marika had finally grown tired of watching Masaya run out into danger alone. This wasn't the first time he had refused her help, and she had grown weary of watching him run time and again into a situation that would leave her in the side-lines.

She wasn't going to let him fight alone anymore!

However, this was the one fight where she may have been in over her head.

Marika's eyes widened when she realised that the powerful jab sword skill she had attempted to attack the dragon that Masaya had knocked down with had practically bounced off its skin, taking away not even a fifteenth of its health. And unfortunately for her, this left her directly open and under the sight of the dragon, whose aggro was now focused on her. She was barely able to process it raising its paw to strike her down when it was sent flying once again by a well-placed kick from Masaya.

"Marika-san!" the brunet exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, I am fine…"

Masaya sighed, then fixed her with a disgruntled look. "This is why I told you to stay back! The dragon's skin is far too tough to try and hit with a sword! Sword skills just bounce off of it. Blunt weapons, like Keita's staff, or my Martial Arts skills work best against it!"

"And you expect me to just sit back and watch you get hurt again and again, unable to help?!" she yelled at him, her frustration finally bursting out of her. "I can't, Masaya-kun! I can't keep doing this! You know well this isn't the first time you leave me behind, and it frustrates me beyond belief that you believe me incapable of helping you!"

Masaya stared at her, his sight uncomprehending, then a light seemed to appear in his eyes, and he looked down morosely. "I… I'm sorry, Marika-san. Please, don't ever think that I think you're weak. It's just…"

Before Marika could ask what was wrong, a roar behind Masaya reminded them that they were still in a battle. Reacting on instinct, Masaya jumped in front of Marika and spread his arms wide, yelling in pain when the Gyo dragon swiped at him, sending him crashing into Marika and flying. He reflexively wrapped his arms around the woman, twisting in mid-air to prevent her from getting hurt. The pair bounced off the ground twice, then came to a grinding stop, whereupon Marika immediately untangled herself from his arms and turned the groaning young man over.

On his back were now four deep slash marks, similar to the three that he had gotten beforehand, and bleeding just as much as those had been. Quickly glancing at his health, she was dismayed to see that he was below the halfway point and steadily decreasing. She quickly fished out the same health potion she had taken out earlier, but once again, the cuts on his back closed as soon as she had it out, and his health stopped decreasing, though it didn't increase by much either.

"Masaya-kun, here, take the potion!"

Once again, however, Masaya sat up and pushed her hand away. "I told you to save them. I don't-."

"Masaya-kun!"

Her exclamation startled him into looking at her, and he was surprised and dismayed to see tears rolling from her eyes.

"Please… take it…" she whispered.

Under those pleading eyes, Masaya couldn't deny her. He swallowed and nodded, taking the potion from her hand and measuring out the amount he would drink. He brought the potion to his lips and swallowed about half, which led his health returning from forty to seventy percent.

"That should be enough," Masaya said when Marika stared at him questioningly. "I don't want to waste it, and my Battle Healing should take care of the rest in a bit. I just need to be careful with its blows."

Across from them, the Gyo dragon had gotten tired of waiting for them to attack. It pawed at the ground like a restless bull, its eyes fixated on Masaya.

"Go, Marika-san," Masaya said. "Stay back for now." When she made to exclaim something, he held a hand up to her lips, looking her in the eyes with his own, regretful pair. "Please, don't involve yourself in this one. You aren't prepared for it. I'm sorry that I made you feel the way I did, but I can't let you get hurt unnecessarily in this fight. So please, just back me up."

Marika stared into his eyes, but eventually nodded and stepped back. With that, Masaya looked back at the dragon, ready to fight with all he had.

"Let's go, then," he challenged the dragon, who seemed to have understood his intentions, as it reared its head back and roared to the skies before glaring at him once more and charging at him. Masaya ran towards it and met its charge with equal fervour.

Just before the pair reached each other, Masaya noticed that its health was now at one and a half bars.

When there was less than ten metres between them, Masaya jumped and attempted to land an axe kick on its snout. Then dragon, however, slithered out of the way, and Masaya's charge landed on the ground, creating a crater and sending several fist-sized rocks flying. The young man quickly gathered his bearings and turned, grabbing several of the rocks that had flown upwards. Before the dragon could attack, he jumped and charged one, releasing it like a bullet. The rock slammed into the dragon's left arm, pushing it backwards, and before it could retaliate or even get its balance back, another charged missile impacted its other arm, this time making it lose its balance and fall to the ground. The dragon wiggled oddly, attempting to get its feet under its body, but as it began to turn, Masaya jumped over it, charging a rock that was twice the size of the first two with both of his hands and blasting it into his adversary's now exposed back with the force of a meteorite, which made it slam into the ground, releasing a pained roar. Masaya's flight carried him to the ground just in front of the recovering creature, and just as he landed, he ducked, avoiding the slash attack that his adversary had just thrown at him by a hair's breadth. With his bent legs, he then used that power to propel himself backwards, flipping and aiming a haymaker at the dragon that lit up his whole arm like a lightsabre. That was one attack the dragon was unable to avoid, and it roared in pain as the attack landed on its sternum and made it slide back, its feet creating deep tracks on the ground.

Masaya landed and took the Martial Arts pose that he had taken before, waiting for the dragon to charge again. The dragon shook its head, recovering from the constant attacks of the young man, then looked at him, whereupon it opened its mouth and roared. In its mouth, though, Masaya realised that there was something new.

As he was forced to dodge the flow of flames that erupted from its gaping maw, Masaya realised his barrage of attacks earlier had dropped the dragon to its last health bar.

The dragon continued to roar as it released a powerful jet of fire towards the brunet, who jumped back and forth constantly to avoid the tongues of flame. It took no more than a few seconds for the dragon to stop, and in that instance, Masaya rushed forward, keeping his right fist near his waist and charging a skill that had taken him a long time to master. When the dragon noticed his approach, it reared back its hands and attempted to crush him once more, but he pushed on and ran just past them, sliding to a stop just in front of the creature and releasing his technique, appropriately named "Dragon's Strike".

The powerful gut punch landed true on the dragon's stomach, and a split-second later, the dragon doubled over as the delay effect of the attack's impact hit the creature. As its snout came closer to him, he knelt, charging another skill in his right foot. However, before he could release it, the dragon opened its mouth once again, and unlike the last time, it released a fireball at nearly point-blank range against Masaya, who was barely able to bring his arms up and cross them over his head before he was blasted by the attack and sent flying back.

The young man cried out in pain as he felt the explosion, just barely being able to keep his bearings. He could feel the pain that the front of his body was currently under, and when he finally slid to a stop and looked, his shirt had been completely ripped by the explosion and his arms and torso were slightly burnt.

He glared at the dragon, intending to attack it once more, but unfortunately, his body wouldn't move when he willed it to.

"Damnit, that's right!" Masaya exclaimed. "My attack was stopped before I could release it. I can't move for the next second…"

And that was all the dragon needed. It quickly ran forward and opened its maw, ready to swallow Masaya whole in a rapid bite, but before it could manage it, there was a flash of light, and a strike landed on its foot, stopping its charge and nearly making it trip. When both Masaya and the dragon looked at the culprit, they saw Marika jumping back to her original position, smirking in a challenging way towards the dragon.

And that was the moment Masaya needed.

As the dragon turned to attack the newcomer, Masaya's body was released from its frozen state, and the young man wasted no time. Masaya ran forward, ending up directly in front of the dragon, and when it looked down to regard him, he once again knelt and charged his attack, releasing it properly this time.

As the dragon reached towards Masaya once again to try and eat him up, its jaw was forcefully closed by the uppercut kick that the young man released with a flip. Its head was sent into the air as well, and before it could recover, Masaya crouched and jumped high, clearing the entire length of the standing dragon and ending up just above it.

When the dragon opened its eyes once more, all it saw was the image of Masaya falling towards it like a missile, his clenched fist in front of him and glowing with power, before said young man's technique slammed into its snout, taking away the small amount of health it had left.

Masaya crouched on the dragon's somewhat squashed snout and jumped off, landing on one knee just one metre away. Behind him, the dragon twitched once before falling to its side, laying still, and finally exploding into multi-coloured polygons.

The brunet sighed, assessing his body's condition. Now that he wasn't fighting, he could feel the pain of the burns that the dragon's fireball had inflicted on him, and his legs and arms were quite sore. He could also feel an oncoming headache from the focus he needed to be able to charge and unleash that many skills continuously. Standing, the brunet sighed once again, and when he opened his eyes, he blinked in stupefaction when he saw his girlfriend standing just in front of him.

And judging by her narrowed eyes and crossed arms, she wasn't happy.

"Well, Masaya-kun? Are you done?" she asked.

Masaya looked back towards where the body of the Gyo dragon had resided, then looked back at Marika. "Yeah, I'd say so."

"Good. Then I have only one thing to say." Before he could react, she walked forward and poked him on the chest. "I want you to take me to where you learned those Martial Arts skills, and then I want you to train me."

Masaya blinked in perplexity once again. "… Pardon? Marika-san, you're barely five levels below me-."

"And yet, that makes all the difference," the blonde responded. "Masaya-kun, you know as well as I do that there's been several times that you have refused to allow me to help you on a mission, whether it's because I'm unprepared or because I don't have the correct skillset." She stepped even closer, then suddenly hugged him, surprising the brunet once more. "No more, Masaya-kun. I'm tired of watching you run into battle alone. I'm tired of feeling helpless while I watch you be hurt. Please… please, I want to fight by your side. I want to be able to fight as you do."

Masaya stared at the young woman cuddling into his chest and couldn't help but heave a sigh of regret. He reached up and hugged her back, laying a small kiss on her head. "Again, I'm sorry I made you feel that way, Marika-san." He pushed her back, and this time, he laid a kiss on her lips instead. Unlike their regular ones, though, this one was calm, simple, and not hungry. This was merely a peck in comparison, but it meant a great deal to the blonde. When they separated, Masaya smiled. "If that will make you happy, Marika-san, I'll gladly help."

Marika smiled and hugged him once again, then suddenly pulled back and pulled out the half-empty health potion he drank earlier. "Here. Finish up this bottle and lets head back."

Masaya smiled in return and took it without complaint.

* * *

"Man, it's a good thing I had a replacement shirt," Masaya muttered as they arrived back at the village.

"Not for me," Marika responded impishly. "I'd have liked to see that body of yours some more…"

Masaya chuckled. "Yes, yes, I'm aware. I'm actually quite surprised that the Nerve Gear replicated the look of my body so deeply. Though…" His eyes gazed at Marika and settled on her torso, making her blush. "If they replicated your _assets_ so well, I shouldn't be that surprised."

Marika's blush doubled, and she crossed her arms around her chest reflexively. Masaya chuckled in response and continued on to the office of the village leader, whereupon he talked to the old man and completed the quest.

As they exited the stone building, Marika could see a smile appear on Masaya's face.

"What is it, Masaya-kun? Did you get something good?" she asked. Being a part of the party that had defeated the dragon, she had received a part of the Col, EXP, and materials that came with it, but it seemed like Masaya had received something else.

Masaya simply nodded, showing her his player window. He had left it on the inventory screen, where Marika saw an item that made her eyes widen in surprise.

 **[Rare Item Acquired: Draconic Gauntlets Blueprint!]**

"No way!" the blonde exclaimed, re-reading the message once and again. "This is one of the blueprints that the yearly message said had been added to the game?"

"Yeah. It's one of the reasons that I wanted to do the quest. _And_ defeating the dragon gave me one of the necessary materials." When she looked at him, he opened the blueprint details, which showed a small picture of what the finished product would look like, a description of what it was, and a list of the ingredients needed.

Two of the necessary four pieces were already filled.

 **[Gyo Dragon Skin: 1/1.]**

 **[Windwasp Stingers: 10/10.]**

"Kirito and I made a habit of collecting Windwasp stingers," Masaya explained when she looked at him. "I needed it more than most due to my fighting style, but now…" Masaya looked at his fist, clenching it for a second. "I think I might change my mind…"

* * *

When they arrived home, they were greeted by Silica, who had been making sandwiches in the kitchen.

"Welcome home, you two," the dragon tamer said with a happy smile.

"Hey, Silica," Masaya responded, smiling in return.

"Hello, Silica," Marika likewise greeted her. The blonde looked around for a moment, then said, "Is Kirito-kun home?"

"No, and that's actually getting me a little worried,"' Silica responded, a pout on her face. "He said he would return in a little bit. He was supposedly going to get some work done on his sword, but it's already been hours!"

Masaya smirked and turned to the living room, easily falling on one of the couches. The two females looked at him, then back at each other.

"Masaya-kun? Aren't you worried about him?" Marika asked.

"No," Masaya shook his head. "I trust in him. If he got in deep trouble, then he'd have already messaged any of us. Since he hasn't, then whatever trouble he got into is something he can handle."

The girls looked at each other again, but couldn't really refute him.

* * *

It was another few hours, sometime after the sun had already set, before the front door opened and Kirito appeared, looking only a little haggard.

"Kirito!" came the cry from Silica, who immediately met him at the door. "Where have you been?! It's been a lot longer than 'a little bit.'"

Kirito looked down at the dragon tamer, blinking in stupefaction, then sighed and asked in return, "Are Masako and Fleur-?"

"We're here!" Masaya called out from the living room.

"Alright." Kirito nodded at Silica and entered, going to the living room and plopping down on the couch opposite of Masaya's. "Jeez, I'm burned out…"

"What happened?" Marika asked him.

"Would you believe me if I told you I fought a dragon?"

There was a deafening silence, which led to Kirito opening his eyes and staring at the other three.

"What?"

Then, suddenly, the trio laughed, startling Kirito.

"What's so funny?!" the young man asked in confusion.

When they finally calmed down, Masaya smirked.

"Kirito, buddy… it's funny you mention that…"

* * *

"You must be kidding…" Kirito chuckled tiredly.

"And that dragon won't be the only one," Masaya said, making everyone look at him. He stood and walked over to the wall to his left, where a bookshelf had been built and added to the place. This was where Masaya and Kirito kept all the books they owned. After looking for a moment, he pulled out a somewhat thick, leather-bound volume, opening it and flipping a few of the pages until he was about halfway into it. Once the words came into focus, he turned back to the other three, who were looking at him expectantly.

"There is a tale on this book… a story of powerful dragons. Each dragon kind had their respective properties, abilities, and weaknesses, and because of it, they forged a pact through battle to contain themselves in their own territory and remain there. However, some didn't want this. They sought more territory, more power. And thus, those dragons continued to fight amongst themselves, sometimes fighting and killing more pacifistic dragons. Soon, only a few were left. Those dragons realised that their constant fighting had brought them to the edge of extinction, and for that reason, they fled, hiding in the areas and floors that best suited their bodies and lifestyles. The one Fleur and I hunted was one of them, the Rock Mountain Dragon, a Gyo dragon of Korean mythology. And it gave me one of the blueprints for legendary weapons that had been added to the game on its anniversary."

Masaya pulled up his inventory and showed it to Kirito and Silica, whose mouths fell open when they saw the blueprint.

"So… the dragon that I encountered on that mountain…" Kirito began.

"… is probably one of such dragons," Masaya finished. "But you didn't kill it, did you?"

"No," Kirito shook his head. "I had what I needed, so Lisbeth and I just left."

"Lisbeth?" Fleur asked.

"Oh, a friend of Asuna's," Kirito explained. "She's a blacksmith, complete with her own shop on Floor 48, Lindarth. I went to ask her for a favour."

"What kind of favour?" Masaya asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Not _that_ kind of favour!" Kirito exclaimed heatedly before becoming subdued. The Black Swordsman opened his menu and materialised a beautiful, green-tinted sword, the pommel of which was shaped into a cross-like design. "It was for this."

Everyone stared at the sword in awe. It looked to be well crafted and quite powerful, while retaining a graceful amount of elegance.

"But… Kirito, why did you ask for a sword? Don't you already have the Elucidator, the best sword in the game so far?" Silica asked in confusion.

Kirito squirmed in his seat, hesitance clear in his countenance. However, Masaya's next words served to shock him.

"Is it what you've been hiding from us?" the brunet asked, not a trace of anger or annoyance in his tone.

Kirito stared at Masaya, gobsmacked. "H-how do you…?"

"I don't know what it is, exactly, if that's what you're wondering," Masaya assured him. "I'm just aware that you've been hiding something from us."

Kirito once again became subdued, then nodded. "Yeah… it's because of something like that."

"Well then, are you planning to come clean?" Masaya asked. "Or do you want to keep it to yourself some more?"

Kirito thought it over, but in the end, he shook his head. "No, I don't want to keep hiding it. You guys deserve to know, and it's been getting annoying anyways."

The Black Swordsman beckoned them all to come outside with him. Once at the yard in front of the house, he pulled up his menu, scrolled through it for a bit, and finally selected something. Another sheath materialised on his back, creating an x there alongside his Elucidator. Kirito drew Elucidator as well, then stood there with both swords in his hands. The trio of spectators waited for one of the swords to disappear, as it was well-known that you couldn't wield two swords at the same time in the game.

Kirito's next actions served to shatter that thought.

The young man took a fighting pose, then jumped forward, reaching one of the trees around the house in a split-second. Both swords glowed together as the Black Swordsman slashed in opposite directions with the swords, slicing the tree neatly into thirds. The crash of the tree pieces hitting the ground served to bring back Masaya, Marika, and Silica to their senses.

"But… But how?!" Silica asked in shock. "I thought dual wielding was nearly impossible in this game, with only one exception of short cleavers!"

"It is," Masaya concurred with her. "Which means this isn't a regular thing, is it?"

Kirito nodded. "A week and a half ago, I woke up and checked over my menu and skills, and one particular skill I'd never seen before was there. 'Dual Wielding', it said, and that's exactly what it is. It allows me to wield, attack, and defend with two swords at the same time."

The trio stared at Kirito in surprise. "You don't know how you got it?" Marika asked him.

"Nope, no clue."

The four of them remained quiet, thinking over the possible ways he could have gotten the special skill, but no one could come up with anything.

"Well, I suppose you're quite lucky, then," Masaya shrugged, stepping towards the young man. "But why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Kirito looked down. "I was… worried, if you'll believe me. I wasn't sure how you'd react if I told you, and… I didn't want to be called a cheater or anything…" Kirito looked away as Masaya frowned. "I know, I know; it's stupid, but-."

"It's not stupid," Masaya cut him off. "It's a legitimate fear, and I understand why you'd think that way. But believe me, little brother…" Masaya stepped forward and ruffled the shorter Kirito's hair. "I'm just proud of you. You're even more powerful now, and that's something that makes me happy."

Kirito stared at Masaya with wide eyes, then chuckled and sighed. "Thanks, Masako."

"Anytime. And, well…" The three others looked at Masaya as he shifted in place. "You're not the only one… that's hiding something."

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked.

In response, Masaya approached an intact tree and motioned towards it. "Try to use a Martial Arts punch on this tree, Kirito. The strongest, direct punch you can."

The young man sheathed his swords and nodded, approaching the tree. He pulled back one fist, charged a straight-punch skill, and shot it forward, impacting the tree and making it shake strongly. Several leaves fell from it, and two apples fell on either side of him. When he pulled his fist back, there was a somewhat deep red indentation on the tree.

"Now what?" Kirito asked.

Masaya opened his menu and scrolled through it, selecting an option on his character menu. Waving at Kirito to step back, he stepped in front of the tree, took the same position Kirito had, and charged the same exact skill.

The next moment, Kirito, Silica, and Marika were left gobsmacked as they watched the tree shatter into splinters, the pieces flying everywhere. The impact caused a shockwave that made the three have to cover themselves, but otherwise, they watched in complete awe as Masaya returned to his original position and took a breath.

"What… what was that?" Silica asked, a little fearfully.

Masaya looked back at her. "That… was my own special skill. Overwhelming Strength."

"Overwhelming Strength?" the three asked simultaneously.

Masaya nodded, looking directly at Marika. "That special ability is exactly why I could fight and defeat the Gyo dragon. It heavily multiplies the overall strength of my character, to the point where I could do what I just did to that tree."

That was when Silica remembered something and shuddered.

"Silica?" Masaya asked in worry.

"Just thinking… you can multiply the strength of your avatar so much, which makes it almost impossible for you to wield normal swords without them breaking in your grasp, so Martial Arts skill are the best attacks for you to use," she explained. " _And_ you're looking to build legendary gauntlets for use with your Martial Arts skills, I'm guessing." Masaya nodded. "… You're going to be something else, Masako. To really get use of your special skill, you practically _need_ those gauntlets."

Kirito and Marika, now understanding what she meant, nodded in tandem, while Masaya smiled awkwardly.

"I find something odd, though," Kirito mused. "You're an Agility-based character, Masako. Wouldn't any special skill you get reflect that, instead of strength?"

Masaya, Marika, and Silica thought about it and had to admit he was right.

"True, since Kirito-kun is purely a swordsman, it stands to some reason that he got Dual Wielding as a skill," Marika considered aloud. "But yours doesn't really make that much sense, Masako-kun."

"Wait a second, it just might," Silica suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "Masako, just how skilled are you with Martial Arts?"

Masaya raised an eyebrow. "How skilled…?"

"How many skills do you have of that specific type?" she specified.

Masaya blinked and thought about it, then shrugged. "I don't know the exact number, but it's pretty high up there."

"Then that might be why," she concluded, smacking her fist into her palm. "Kirito and I have seen how you fight many times, Masako. It's possible you got it due to using Martial Arts skills so often instead of sticking purely to swords like most of the players."

The rest of them had to admit that it made a lot of sense.

"Well, putting those factors aside," Masaya sighed, "Yes, Kirito, you aren't the only one here with a Special Skill. Truthfully, I had the same fears you did about this."

Kirito smiled. "Well, at least we're still equal badasses."

Everyone laughed at that.

…

...

...


End file.
